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PROPAGATION  OF  THE  VINE. 


:OW    TO   REGULATE    VINEYARDS   BY    THE   USE    OF 
SEEDLINGS.    A  TREATISE  ILLUSTRATING  THE 

SUPERIORITY  OF  CONSTITUTIONALLY  i 

PERFECT   ROOTS. 

ALSO 

.N  ESSAY  ON  THE  PHYSICAL  AND  MORAL  INFLUENCE 

OF  THE  VINE. 


BY 


CHARLES     A.     W  E  T  M  O  R  E 


Second    Edition,    With    Appendix. 


SAN  FRANCISCO. 

iblished  by  the  SAN  FEANCISCO  MERCHANT,  A.  D.  Bell,  Proprietor,  323  Front  Street. 

1880. 


PROPAGATION  OF  THE  VINE. 


HOW   TO   REGULATE    VINEYARDS   BY   THE    USE    OF 

SEEDLINGS.     A  TREATISE  ILLUSTRATING  THE 

SUPERIORITY  OF  CONSTITUTIONALLY 

PERFECT    ROOTS. 

ALSO 

AN  ESSAY  ON  THE  PHYSICAL  AND  MORAL  INFLUENCE 

OF  THE  VINE. 

BY 

CHARL-ES     A.     WETMORE. 


Price  (INCLUDING  LITHOGRAPH)  25  Cents* 


SAN  FRANCISCO: 

Published  by  the  SAN  FRA*.  Cisco  MKECHANT,  A.  D.  Bell,  Proprietor,  323  Front  Street, 

1880. 


TO  THE   VITICULTURISTS  AND  OTHER  FAEMEES  OF  CALIFOENIA. 


This  pamphlet  is  respectfully  dedicated  to  the  viticulturists 
and  farmers  of  the  State  of  California,  to  whom  all  who  desire  to 
witness  the  rapid  advancement  of  industry  and  good  society,  and 
the  creation  of  happy  and  -comfortable  homes  for  our  people, 
earnestly  appeal  for  continued  intelligent  exertions  in  ascertaining 
and  demonstrating  the  practical  possibilities  of  agriculture.  The 
object  of  this  work  is  not  to  create  controversy,  or  to  maintain  a 
pet  theory,  but  to  stimulate  experiment  in  the  field  of  scientific 
agriculture  and  to  induce  the  wanderer  to  settle  down  under  his 
own  vine  and  fig  tree. 

CHAS.  A.  WETMORE. 
OAKLAND,  GAL.,  March  1st,  1880. 


301839 


PROPAGATION  OF  THE  VINE. 


PRINCIPLES  OF  VITICULTURE  RELATING  TO  DEVELOPMENT 
OF  PERFECT  IjOOTS  DISCUSSED, 


THE    WILD    VINE    OF    CALIFORNIA-ITS     VALUE 
FOR  GRAFTING  STOCK  AND  WINE  MAKING. 


A  CHAPTER  ON  SILVANERS   OR  ZIERFAHNLS— EUROPEAN   VINES  OF  SYLVAN 
ORIGIN— PHYLLOXERA  IN  FRANCE. 


REPRINTED  FROM  THE  COLUMNS  OF  THE  SAN  FRANCISCO  MERCHANT. 


During  the  period  of  my  observations  and 
studies  in  France,  in  1878,  concerning  the 
phylloxera  plague,  my  attention  was  especi- 
ally attracted  to  those  remedies  which  had  in 
view  the  restoration  of  exhausted  soils  and 
the  regeneration  of  the  constitutions  of  culti- 
vated vines. 

I  found  that  the  weight  of  evidence  was  in 
favor  of  the  use  of  nitrogenous  potash  man- 
ures and  of  American  vines,  as  near  to  the 
wild  state  as  possible,  for  grafting  stock. 
All  specifics,  to  be  used  as  simple  insecti- 
cides, were  found  to  be  impracticable  on  ac- 
count of  great  expense  and  their  failures  to 
provide  radical  and  permanent  cures. 

The  only  permanent  resistance  was  found 
where  constitutional  changes  were  wrought 
in  vineyards. 

Many  French  viticulturists  and  scientists 
adhered  to  and  insisted  upon  the  theory  that 
the  resistance  of  the  American  plants  was 
solely  due  to  the  peculiar  constitutional 
structure  of  their  roots,  being  impervious  to 
the  attacks  of  the  insect  and  that  there  could 
be  no  regeneration  of  European  vines  which 
would  enable  them  to  resist  the  plague. 
Some,  however,  with  apparently  good  rea- 
sons, ascribed  the  rapid  progress  of  the  dis- 


ease to  the  impaired  constitutions  of  Euro- 
pean vines,  increased  by  over-production  and 
the  impoverishment  of  soils;  these  held  the 
opinion  that  the  American  vines  resisted  be- 
cause they  were  pure  stocks,  not  worn  out 
by  excessive  and  vicious  cultivation.  These 
latter  also  thought  that  the  European  vine 
might  be  restored  to  a  better  degree  of  con- 
stitutional vigor  through  regeneration  from 
the  seed,  which  would  cause  the  plague  to 
disappear.  It  was  necessary,  therefore,  to 
consider  the  phylloxera  as  an  ordinary  para- 
site developed  into  an  epidemic  by  condi- 
tions favoring  the  spread  of  disease.  Wheth- 
er this  were  true,  or  not,  the  fact  remained 
that  the  addition  of  potash  -to  soils  from 
which  it  had  been  exhausted  retarded  the 
progress  of  the  insect  in  destroying  vines, 
and  that  the  substitution  of  certain  American 
vines  for  the  European  varieties  completely 
stayed  the  evil.  The  American  vines  experi- 
mented with  were  numerous  in  name,  but  it 
must  be  remembered  that  they  have  all  been 
produced  from  a  few  original  wild  varie- 
ties, either  improved  by  simple  processes  of 
reproduction,  or  hybridization.  It  Was  ob- 
served that  the  pure  varieties  were  able  to 
resist  the  insect  (with  some  doubt  concerning 


the  labruseas),  and  that  the  hybrids  gener- 
ally failed.  The  varieties  considered  sure 
were  of  the  cordifolM,  riparia  and  aestivalis 
types.  No  experiments  had  been  made 
with  the  wild  vines  of  California  or  Arizona 
(vitis  Calif  or  nica  and  vitis  Arizonica). 

I  recommended  then  that  our  viticulturists 
should  at  once  try  the  virtues  of  the  wild 
vine  of  this  State,  which  resembles  somewhat 
the  riparia.  I  called  attention  to  a  new 
proposition,  viz:  the  use  of  seedling  wild 
vines  for  grafting  purposes  in  place  of  cut- 
tings. This  reform  in  grape  culture,  which 
if  successful  would  cause  each  vine  to  have 
roots  constitutionally  perfect  in  all  their  parts 
with  the  undiminished  vigor  of  an  original 
plant,  I  thought  to  be  based  upon  sound 
principles  everywhere  recognized  in  horticul- 
ture. It  occurred  to  me  that  if  cuttings  were 
good  to  graft  upon,  seedlings,  well  selected, 
would  be  better,  because  their  vitality  would 
be  unimpaired  and  their  root  system  com- 
plete. 

This  idea  has  been  criticised  by  many,upon 
first  hearing  it,  because  experience  in  raising 
seedlings  had  shown  that  in  many  cases  they 
were  inferior  in  strength  to  their  parents. 
This  however  was  answered  at  once  by  say- 
ing that  the  failures  were  probably  almost 
wholly  due  to  the  fact  that  only  the  seeds  of 
improved,  or  hybridized  varieties  had  been 
experimented  with.  Such  varieties  not  only 
generally  fail  to  reproduce  themselves  through 
seedlings,  but  also  fail  to  produce  vigorous 
offspring.  The  experiment  of  reproducing 
simple,  pure  varieties,  unaffected  by  crossed 
saps  and  high  cultivation,  had  seldom  if  ever 
been  tried,  because  the  aim  had  been,  in  the 
past,  when  raising  seedling  grapes,  to  pro- 
cure either  new  varieties  by  hybridization,  or 
the  reproduction  of  such  as  had  already  been 
hybridized.  Seedlings  had  therefore  gener- 
ally shown  constitutional  weakness. 

I  feel  quite  safe  in  relying  upon  the  gen- 
eral law  of  nature  that  propagation  from  the 
seed  produces  natural  and  healthful  growth, 
and  that  each  produces  after  its  own  kind, 
unless  simple  reproduction  has  suffered  some 
violence  rendering  seeds  unreliable. 

There  might  however  be  some  doubt  as  to 
the  vigor  or  rapidity  of  the  growth  of  a  seed- 
ling wild  vine',  as  compared  with  a  cutting  : 
but  I  found  that  in  France  seedlings  pro- 
duced wood  as  rapidly  in  most  cases,  and 
sometimes  more  rapidly  than  cuttings.  I  was 
hopeful  also  of  the  California  vine,  and  de- 
termined to  conduct  some  experiments.  I 
shall  now  offer  to  our  viticulturists  all  that 
I  have  been  able  to  learn  on  the  subject. 

EESISTANCE    TO   THE    PHYLLOXERA. 

I  can  find  no  reason  to  suppose  that  our 
indigenous  vine  will  not  resist  phylloxera 


equally  as  well  as  the  vines  of  Missouri, 
Ohio,  the  Carolinas  and  Texas.  I  do  find  by 
examination  of  the  Sonoma  Valley  that  wild 
vines  are  flourishing  in  the  midst  of  vine- 
yards which  have  been  destroyed  by  the 
pest.  This  proof  is  one  that  would  be  gen- 
erally accepted  as  sufficient,  but  it  is  not  by 
me  for  a  reason  which  I  will  explain.  I  have 
ascertained  that  European  varieties  of  vines 
in  infected  places  ara  saved  from  the  insect, 
if  the  soil  near  their  roots  is  not  disturbed  by 
cultivation.  Instances  of  this  are  the  follow- 
ing: a  roadway  proves  an  obstacle  to  the  ad- 
vance of  the  plague  and  generally  the  vinos 
next  to  the  hard  ground  last  longest;  a  vine 
in  the  rear  of  Mr.  Attila  Harazthy's  residence 
in  the  Sonoma  Valley,  has  survived,  while  the 
surrounding  vineyard  has  been  destroyed — 
the  soil  about  it  is  tramped  hard  and  com- 
pact and  is  not  disturbed;  old  vineyards, 
abandoned,  after  being  attacked  severely  by 
phylloxera,  have  become  overgrown  with 
weeds,  the  soil  hardened,  and  resuscitation 
has  been  noted.  It  is  probable  that  the  in- 
sect cannot  work  in  soils  that  are  not  thrown 
open  to  the  air  by  cultivation,  leaving  crev- 
ices to  follow  and  to  enter  and  room  for 
respiration.  If  this  be  true,  the  wild  vine 
can  only  be  fairly  tested  where  the  soil  is 
cultivated  and  loosened.  Sandy  soils  are 
preferable  for  vineyards  ;  the  phylloxera 
does  not  spread  in  them,  probably  be- 
cause they  do  not,  when  loosened,  leave 
passage-ways,  such  as  clay  soils  do.  How- 
ever there  is  good  reason  to  believe  that  our 
wild  vine  will  resist  the  phylloxera  ;  if  so, 
I  should  prefer  to  use  seedlings  to  graft 
upon.  They  may  be  produced  in  nurseries 
by  the  million,  and  at  one  year  old  an  oppor- 
tunity will  be  had  for  selecting  only  those  of 
the  most  vigorous  growth. 

SELECTING   SEEDS. 

Last  August  I  examined  the  wild  vines 
which  grow  in  the  Sonoma  Valley  with  the 
intention  of  having  seeds  collected  there. 
I  was  not  satisfied  with  what  I  found,  for 
two  reasons  ;  because  the  berries  appeared 
imperfect,  and  I  was  afraid  they  might  have 
been  impregnated  from  the  surrounding 
vineyards.  I  intended  to  follow  carefully 
the  theory  that  hybridizatim  renders  seed- 
lings constitutionally  weak,  and  also  that 
seeds  from  the  most  prolific  vines,  bearing 
perfect  bunches  of  grapes,  would  germinate, 
with  the  best  results. 

By  inquiry  I  learned  that  the  wild  vines 
in  the  vicinity  of  Harbin's  Springs,  in  Lake 
County,  were  the  most  luxuriant,  prolific  and 
bore  the  best  developed  bunches  of  fruit. 
At  that  time,  I  assumed,  as  others  do,  that 
there  was  onls  one  variety  of  wild  vine  in  the 
State — the  vitis  Californica,  first  described 


by  Bcntham,  and  that  all  I  needed  was  .to 
procure  seeds  from  the  best  specimens  to  be 
found.  I  am  now  convinced  of  an  error,  for 
I  am  quite  sure  that  the  varieties  of  our 
wild  vines  are  quite  numerous,  though  to 
the  casual  observer  they  all  appear  alike. 

I  succeeded  in  engaging  Mr.  C.  Mattier, 
an  intelligent  Frenchman,  who  lives  a  her- 
mit's life  in  the  valley  adjacent  to  Harbins 
Springs,  to  collect  seeds  for  me.  I  found 
that  he  had  already  commenced  to  experi- 
ment with  the  wild  vine  as  I  had  recom- 
mended. 

On  the  7th  of  April,  1879,  he  had  scat- 
tered broadcast  in  his  vegetable  garden  an 
oyster-can  full  of  the  seeds  of  the  wild  vine 
which  he  had  saved.  He  had  expected  only 
a  few  to  germinate  ;  but  thousands  soon  ap- 
peared above  ground,  most  of  which  he  de- 
stroyed in  cultivating  his  garden.  On  the 
2d  of  June  he  transplanted  a  few,  as  he 
would  have  done  with  tomato  plants.  These 
he  took  care  of  and  watered.  In  the  month 
of  October,  at  my  request,  he  dug  up  two  of 
these  seedlings,  less  than  seven  months  old 
from  the  seed,  and  sent  them  to  me,  to- 
gether with  branches  of  an  old  wild  vine  of 
the  same  kind,  which  were  loaded  with  fruit. 
One  of  the  seedlings,  together  with  aver- 
age samples  of  the  wild  fruit,  I  photographed 
to  preserve  for  the  use  which  I  make  of  them 
now.  They  are  figures  2  and  3  on  the  ac- 
companying plate.  The  seedling  had  devel- 
oped a  perfect  system  of  roots,  the  longest 
being  three  feet  and  a  half  to  the  point  where 
broken  off  in  the  deep  soil.  The  wood  of  the 
stem  just  above  the  sc  il  was  three-eighths  of 
an  inch  in  diameter  and  the  growth  three  feet 
high.  Subsequently  I  had  a  collection  of  the 
seedlings,  which  had  not  been  cultivated  and 
had  had  no  advantage  of  water,  sent  to  me. 
Most  of  them  were  too  small  to  graft,  though 
some  were  quite  well  developed.  It  is  prob- 
able that  if  the  seeds  had  been  sown  earlier 
and  well  cultivated  in  favorable  ground,  a 
large  percentage  would  have  produced  vigor- 
ous plants.  Nothing  [could  have  been  more 
satisfactory  than  Mr.  Mattier's  experiment, 
as  far  as  it  shows  the  vigor  of  these  seedlings. 
Figure  2  in  the  accompanying  plate  repre- 
sents the  seedling  photographed  a  little  less 
than  one  half  the  natural  size. 

Mr.  Mattier  says  that  he  had  used  the  wild 
grapes  to  mix  with  the  Mission  and  other 
cultivated  varieties  to  produce  claret  wines, 
and  that  he  had  discovered  remarkable  vinous 
qualities  in  them  similar  to  those  of  the  best 
Bordeaux  grapes.  He  found  certain  bunches 
among  the  vines  growing  near  Harbin's 
Springs,  which  had  accidentally  developed  in 
size  and  character  to  such  a  degree  of  perfec- 
tion that  he  had  conceived  the  idea  of  im- 
proving them  by  cultivation,  not  for  grafting 


stock,  but  for  producing  fruit  for  wine  mak- 
ing. One  bunch  he  had  found  measured 
eight  inches  in  length,  the  berries  being  large 
and  well  matured.  But  of  this  feature  I 
shall  write  further  on  when  noticing  the  value 
of  this  vine  on  its  own  merits,  independently 
of  its  value  for  grafting  stock. 

He  collected  for  me  three  hundred  and 
twenty-five  pounds  of  seeds — including  the 
dried  skins.  The  method,  according  to  my 
directions,  was  to  select  matured  bunches,  to 
crush  the  berries,  without  injuring  the  seeds, 
to  press  out  the  juice  carefully  by  hand  so  as 
to  prevent  fermentation  and  to  dry  the  re- 
mainder in  a  shady  place.  ' 

He  also  conducted  experiments  in  making 
wine  from  portions  of  the  grapes,  which  first 
demonstrated  that  there  were  several  varie- 
ties of  these  wild  grapes. 

There  were  noticeable  different  colors  in 
these  grapes  when  picked,  but  this  had  gen- 
erally been  attributed  to  different  degrees  of 
maturity.  I  have,  however,  sampled  three 
different  wines  made  from  these  grapes, 
which  vary  so  much  in  general  characteristics 
that  I  am  convinced  that  they  are  the  pro- 
ducts of  distinct  varieties.  One  was  of  a 
light  reddish  brown  color,  another  port  like, 
another  violet  purple.  The  last  had  such  an 
abundance  of  coloring  matter  that  a  small 
addition  of  it  to  a  glass  of  white  wine  was 
sufficient  to  impart  a  brilliant  claret  color. 
When  I  submitted  it  to  Mr.  Arpad  Haraszthy 
for  his  opinion  he  pronounced  it,  without 
hesitation,  a  fine  claret  wine,  and  remarked, 
"  They  will  plant  that  vine  yet  in  Bordeaux 
by  the  million!" 

Mr.  Mattier  thinks  he  can  distinguish  five 
distinct  varieties  among  the  vines  in  his 
vicinity. 

The  seeds  which  I  have,  upon  examina- 
tion, disclose  marked,  distinctive  peculiari- 
ties, notwithstanding  a  common  type  prevails 
among  them.  Some  are  grayish  colored, 
same  bright  reddish,  others  dull  coffee  brown, 
with  varying  shades  between  these.  The 
dark  seeds,  coming  from  the  dark  grapes, 
predominate.  Some  are  also,  no  doubt, 
immature  and  worthless. 

HOW   TO   USE   THE   SEEDS. 

For  the  purpose  of  producing  seedlings  for 
grafting  stock,  I  presume  that  there  can  be 
no  material  difference  in  the  value  of  these 
seeds.  All  of  them  are  from  a  district  un- 
contarninated  by  a  possible  hybridization, 
excepting  such  as  may  have  happened  natur- 
ally among  the  wild  vines  in  the  state  of 
nature.  The  vines  from  which  they  were 
gathered  exhibit  remarkable  fecundity  as 
well  as  luxuriance  of  growth.  Some  cover 
trees  from  fifty  to  seventy-five  feet  high, 
and  produce  at  least  one  hundred  and  fifty 


pounds  of  fruit  each.  It  is  to  be  expected 
that  when  these  vines  are  cultivated  and 
properly  pruned,  the  fruit  will  improve. 

The  seeds  may  easily  be  germinated  in 
light  sandy  loam,  or  any  soil  which  would  be 
suitable  for  nursery  purposes.  In  order  to 
obtain  the  complete  value  of  perfect  roots, 
the  best  method,  no  doubt,  would  be  to  start 
the  seeds  in  boxes,  or  under  glass,  in  Febru- 
ary or  March,  in  the  same  manner  that 
tomato  plants  are  raised;  then  as  soon  as  the 
vigorous  young  plants  can  be  determined, 
which  would  be  within  two  months,  to  trans- 
plant them  carefully  into  the  vineyards  where 
they  are  to  remain.  In  this  way  the  roots 
may  be  suffered  to  grow  undisturbed  and  the 
plants  may  be  grafted  in  place  the  next  spring. 
In  case  some  have  failed  to  grow  their  places 
may  be  filled  with  seedlings  one  year  old 
from  the  nursery  and  grafted  at  the  same 
time.  The  seedling  ^fig.  2)  shown  in  the 
accompanying  plate,  was  carefully  taken 
from  the  ground,  six  months  and  a  half  old. 
In  ordinary  work,  most  of  its  roots  would 
have  been  shortened,  and  its  perfection  when 
transplant  3d  would  be  impaired,  although  in 
any  event  it  would  be  superior  to  a  cutting. 

In  the  most  cases,  however,  it  will  be  con- 
sidered impracticable  and  as  a  process  too 
slow  to  use  the  seedlings  transplanted  from 
boxes  or  hotbeds.  Most  farmers  will  prefer 
to  obtain  their  plants  of  the  one  year's 
growth  in  nursery.  They  will  have  the  ad- 
vantage of  selecting  only  the  most  vigorous 
growers,  and  can  graft  them  before  planting. 

Common  farmers'  sense  will  indicate  how 
to  manage  a  nursery.  I  should  say,  sow  the 
seeds  in  rows  in  loose,  deep  soil — moist,  but 
well  drained,  after  the  manner  of  sowing  car- 
rot or  beet  seeds.  If  the  plants  come  up 
irregularly  a  little  labor  can  be  profitably 
used  in  redistributing  them  by  removing 
some  from  the  crowded  places  to  the  spare 
spaces.  If  the  rows  are  eighteen  inches 
apart,  and  the  plants  from  four  to  six  inches 
apart  in  the  rows,  about  sixty  thousand  may 
be  raised  on  one  acre.  At  the  end  of  one 
year,  if  all  are  not  required  for  transplant- 
ing, the  alternate  rows  may  be  taken  up, 
leaving  ample  room  for  cultivation. 

HOW   MANY   SEEDLINGS   MAY   BE    BEQUIKED. 

It  is  the  practice  in  this  State  to  plant 
vines  about  one  thousand  to  the  acre.  Forty 
acres  would  require  forty  thousand  plants. 
In  the  Sonoma  valley  six  hundred  acres  have 
been  destroyed  by  phylloxera;  it  would  re- 
quire six  hundred  thousand  plants  to  replace 
them.  Thousands  of  new  acres  are  to  be 
planted  in  Sonoma,  Napa  and  other  counties. 
To  ensure  them  against  the  future  attacks  of 
the  dreaded  plague,  prudence  would  advise 
viticulturists  to  put  a  foundation  of  sound 


and  perfect  roots  under  their  vines.  It  is 
plain  to  see  that  if  this  principle  of  using 
wild  vine  seedlings  prevails,  millions  of 
plants  will  be  required  and  that  there  is  no 
danger  lest  nurseries  should  become  over- 
stocked. As  soon  as  the  experiments  have 
progressed  two  or  three  years,  and  we  have 
found  out  what  the  French  have  discovered 
already,  it  will  probably  be  impossible  for 
the  few  who  have  had  the  foresight  to  plant 
seeds  to  supply  the  demand  for  seedlings. 

No  doubt,  a  market  may  be  found  in 
France  for  millions  of  plants  from  this  State. 
They  have  now  three  billion  destroyed  and 
sick  vines  to  replace. 

A  nursery  cultivated  for  three  or  four  years 
would  also  furnish  an  abundance  of  cuttings, 
if  required,  in  preference  to  seedlings,  which 
could  be  more  profitably  obtained  in  that 
way  than  by  seeking  them  at  the  tops  of 
great  trees  in  the  wild  state.  It  would  be  a 
great  task  to  obtain  100,000  cuttings  from 
the  wild  vines,  while  they  might  be  easily 
taken  from  a  quarter  of  an  acre  of  three  year 
old  vines  in  nursery. 

I  have  counted  small  lots  of  the  seeds 
which  I  have,  and  find  that  they  average 
about  8,000  to  the  pound,  the  crushed  and 
dried  skins  remaining  among  them.  The 
whole  lot  collected  for  me  contains  about 
2,500,000  seeds.  I  should  expect  to  waste  at 
least  one-half  the  seeds  in  sowing  them,  be- 
cause many  of  them  stick  together,  glued  to 
the  skins,  and,  under  any  ordinary  circum- 
stances, they  would  fall  unequally  in  sowing. 
A  great  many  plants  would  require  to  be 
thinned  out  and  destroyed.  The  immature 
seeds  would  not  germinate.  I  should  esti- 
mate, therefore,  that  twenty  pounds  would 
be  needed  for  an  acre  nursery.  If  started  first 
in  boxes,  or  hot  beds,  they  might  nearly  all 
be  saved  in  transplanting,  and  one  half  the 
seeds  would  suffice.  I  should  think  that 
even  when  starting  a  nursery,  it  might  be 
best  to  sow  first  under  glass  and  transplant 
only  the  most  vigorous,  as  soon  as  they  are 
developed  sufficiently. 

WHAT  WILL  BE  DONE  THIS  YEAB. 

I  have  already  distributed  portions  of  the 
seeds  collected  to  Mr.  Chas.  Kohler,  of 
Sonoma;  Mr.  G.  Groeziuger,  of  the  Napa 
Valley;  Prof.  Hilgard,  of  the  State  Univer- 
sity, and  Mr.  John  L.  Beard,  of  Centerville, 
one  of  the  Regents  of  the  University,  and  a 
skillful  farmer. 

About  an  acre  will  be  cultivated  in  seed- 
lings at  Berkeley.  Mr.  Beard  will  do  as  much 
and  more  to  provide  for  his  and  my  personal 
use  next  year. 

The  question  of  expense  has  not  troubled 
me  in  this  matter,  because  I  deem  this  reform 
of  such  vast  importance  to  the  future  of  our 


vineyards  that  I  am  only  anxious  to  have  the 
experiments  started  as  extensively  as  pos- 
sible, so  that  there  may  be  a  large  number  of 
plants  for  sale  or  distribution,  as  soon  as  our 
farmers  have  become  satisfied  with  the 
soundness  of  the  theory  advanced. 

I  have  therefore  put  up  one  hundred  half 
pound  and  fifty  pound  packages  for  dis- 
tribution to  whomsoever  will  demand  them 
in  this  State,  and  Mr.  A.  D.  Bell,  the  pro- 
prietor of  the  MERCHANT  has  kindly  agreed  to 
distribute  them  for  me.  I  feel  no  hesitation 
in  appealing  to  our  intelligent  viticulturists 
and  farmers  to  assist  me  in  making  these  ex- 
periments as  general  as  possible,  and  in  ask- 
ing those  who  are  willing  to  do  so  to  write  to 
Mr.  Bell  for  seeds.  I  only  ask  that  the  seeds 
may  not  be  wasted  and  that  next  fall  all 
parties  having  germinated  them  will  notify 
the  President  of  the  State  Yiticultural 
Society — Mr.  Arpad  Hararzthy,  or  his  suc- 
cessor in  office — stating  what  results  they 
have  obtained,  kind  of  soil  in  which  plants 
are  growing,  and  what  disposition  they  de- 
sire or  intend  to  make  of  the  seedlings  they 
have,  so  that,  if  offered  for  sale  or  distribu- 
tion, those  desiring  them  ma}7  know  where 
they  may  be  obtained. 

I  shall  send  some  to  France  k)  the  Viticul- 
tural Union  of  the  Entre-Deux-Mers,  where 
they  have  been  desired,  and  some  to  the 
Agricultural  College  at  Montpellier,  in  the 
Department  of  the  Herault,  where  more  than 
two  hundred  varieties  of  American  vines  are 
now  growing. 

DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  ACCOMPANYING  PLATE. 

In  order  to  illustrate  the  different  prin- 
ciples of  propagating  vines,  I  have  prepared 
the  accompanying  plate,  lithographed  by 
Edward  Bosqui  &  Co.,  the  explanation  of 
which  is  as  follows: 

Figure  1.  Seed  of  the  California  wild 
vine  from  Harbin's  Springs,  magnified  six 
times. 

Figure  2.  California  wild  vine  seedling, 
nearly  one-half  natural  size;  seed  sown  April 
7th,  1879,  near  Harbin's  Springs  by  Mr.  C. 
Mattier,  transplanted  June  2,  and  taken  up 
finally  as  shown  in  figure,  in  October,  being 
then  less  than  seven  months  from  the  seed. 
It  shows  the  system  of  roots  peculiar  to  a 
seedling,  and  the  leaf  peculiar  to  the  vitis 
Calif ornica.  The  vigor  of  the  plant  cannot 
fail  to  attract  attention.  If  Lake  County 
can  produce  this  much  what  may  not  more 
favorable  places  do? 

Figure  3.  Bunches  of  wild  grapes  from 
old  vines  at  the  same  place,  nearly  one-half 
natural  size.  Perfectly  matured;  very  dark 
or  shining  black;  taste  agreeable  acid;  no 
trace  of  any  flavor  similar  to  wild  grapes 
of  States  east  of  the  Kocky  Mountains. 


Similar  in  vinous  qualities  to  the  grapes  of 
the  Medoc,  which  produce  the  most  famous 
clarets. 

Figure  4.  Illustration  of  roots  developed 
from  a  foreign  cutting  two  years  old — copied 
from  a  French  work.  It  shows  that  cuttings 
produce  only  lateral  systems  of  roots  and 
exhibits  an  inherent  weakness  by  reason  of 
the  lack  of  a  constitutionally  perfect  root 
system.  The  main  trunk  of  the  root  is  a 
portion  of  wood  grown  above  ground,  which 
never  partakes  of  a  true  root's  character.  It 
may  be  liable  to  disease,  and,  if  affected  by 
worms,  or  rot,  between  the  upper  and  lower 
lateral  roots  the  lower  system  must  necessari- 
ly be  cut  off  from  the  plant  above.  The 
destruction  of  any  one  of  the  seedling  roots, 
however,  need  not  affect  the  others,  which 
all  tend  to  strike  deep  into  the  soil. 

Figure  5.  Illustration  of  a  short  section 
of  a  cutting,  full  size,  with  only  one  bud, 
intended  to  be  planted  in  the  manner  of  a 
seed.  This  method  of  propagation  has  been 
experimented  with,  but  has  not  obtained  any 
general  use. 

Figure  6.  Illustrates  the  development  of 
a  bud  cutting,  one  year  old  planted  after  the 
manner  of  figure  5,  at  the  College  at  Mont- 
pellier. It  is  copied  one-sixth  natural  size 
and  shows  that  the  roots  thrown  down  are 
similar  to  those  of  a  seedling.  The  French 
call  it  bouture  semis  (cutting-seedling).  In 
this  particular  case,  the  root  was  thrown 
down  fifty-four  inches  and  the  wood  made 
above  ground  was  thirty-seven  inches. 

The  superiority  of  the  roots  of  the  seedling 
must  be  manifest  to  even  a  casual  observer. 
I  believe  that  most,  if  not  all  the  diseases 
pertaining  to  the  roots  of  vines  are  owing  to 
the  vicious  practice  of  propagating  the  same 
vine  for  centuries  by  cuttings  only.  Their 
roots  are  constitutionally  defective  and  weak. 

THE  WILD  GRAPE  AS  A  WINE  GRAPE. 

I  think  there  can  be  no  doubt  of  the  value 
of  our  native  wild  vine  for  grafting  stock  and 
for  this  purpose  I'  do  not  hesitate  to  recom- 
mend its  general  use,  either  by  cuttings,  or 
seedlings.  But  the  experiments  made  for  nie 
by  Mr.  Mattier  during  the  past  grape  season, 
have  convinced  me,  as  well  as  others  who  are 
experts,  that  the  crowning  virtue  of  this  vine 
is  its  value  for  making  claret  wines.  I 
should  not  hesitate,  if  I  had  a  vineyard  to 
plant  in  any  of  our  northern,  or  central  coun- 
ties, to  cultivate  this  vine  for  the  sake  of  its 
fruit.  I  believe  it  will  supply  the  greatest 
desideratum  in  our  wine  making  and  is  des- 
tined in  the  future  to  make  the  clarets  of 
this  State  famous.  It  produces  tannin  and 
tartrate  of  potash,  has  no  striking  aroma,  is 
sufficiently  neutral  and  has  no  disagreeable 
taste  whatever.  The  viticulturist  who  plants 


a  vineyard  with  these  vines,  need  not  fear 
any  serious  loss  by  experimenting,  because, 
if  he  is  not  finally  satisfied  with  the  fruit  of 
the  vines  when  cultivated,  he  can  graft  them 
whenever  he  pleases  and  be  sure  that  he  has 
a  superior  foundation  for  his  vineyard. 

I  have  ascertained  by  examination  of  my 
seeds  that  the  dark  coffee  brown  colored  ones 
come  from  the  darkest  grapes  and  that  the 
light  colored,  yellowish  and  grayish  ones 
come  from  light  colored  and  imma- 
ture grapes.  Those  who  desire  to 
separate  any  samples-  they  may  re- 
ceive may  do  so,  following  this  rule.  It  may 
be  the  colors  are  due  only  to  different  degrees 
of  maturity,  but  my  opinion  is  that  the  va- 
rieties are  different  and  that  the  darkest  ones 
are  the  most  valuable,  if  the  object  is  to 
propagate  for  the  fruit  and  not  for  the  graft- 
ing stock. 

SEEDLINGS   OF   EUROPEAN    VINES. 

I  am  convinced  by  the  testimony  of  those 
I  have  consulted  in  France  and  also  in  this 
State,  that  the  general  failures  to  reproduce 
varieties  of  grapes  by  seedlings  are  owing  to 
the  selection  of  seeds  of  choice  improved,  or 
hybridized  grapes.  If  we  could  tell  which 
among  our  European  grapes  are  pure  stocks, 
I  believe  they  could  be  propagated  and  re- 
produced without  failure  from  the  seed.  As 
this  is  to  me  a  study  of  grapes  for  wine 
making,  and  not  for  table  use,  or  raisin  dry- 
ing, I  think  the  problem  is  an  easy  one.  The 
best  wine  grapes  are  those  which  appear  to 
be  the  least  perverted  from  the  natural  state 
by  cultivation  or  hybridizing,  and  these  will 
probably  respond  favorably  in  seedlings. 

I  have  a  theory  which  has  considerable 
evidence  to  base  itself  upon,  that  the  best 
known  wine  grapes  are  the  nearest  to  the 
original  wild  condition  and  consequently 
pure  stock.  The  history  of  the  Bordeaux 
grapes  goes  back  to  where  the  memory  of 
man  and  tradition  cease  to  quote  facts.  They 
were  cultivated  in  the  Medoc  at  the  time  of 
the  Roman  conquests.  Tradition  says  that 
the  French  vines  came  from  Greece.  Per- 
haps so;  perhaps,  however,  only  a  part  of 
them  came  from  the  Orient.  The  belief  that 
many  of  the  varieties  were  indigenous  to 
the  country  is  gaining  ground. 

I  found  at  Bordeaux  that  the  claret  grapes 
reproduced  themselves  from  the  seed.  They 
are  poor  things  to  eat  and  not  more  palatable 
than  our  wild  grapes.  Yet  they  m^.ke  fine 
wine. 

In  trying  to  trace  up  the  origin  of  our 
Zinfaudel  grape,  which  we  have  been  told 
came  from  Hungary,  I  fell  upon  some  curious 
information,  I  consulted  Count  (Mart's  cel- 
ebrated work,  Ampelographie  Universelle,  ou 
Traite  des  Cepages  les  plus  Estimes  dans  tous 


les  Vignobtes  de  quelque  renom,  published  in 
Paris  in  1873.  I  expected  to  find  the  Zin- 
faiidel  described  as  a  distinct  variety  of  vine. 
I  found,  however,  that  the  word  signified 
simply  loild  vine,  and  that  while  we  might 
have  only  one  variety,  there  were  many  Zin- 
fandels.  The  word  has  been  corrupted  in 
California  from  Szirifaudl,  or  Zierfahnl. 

I  found  in  Count  Odart's  work,  under  the 
head  of  "  Austria,"  a  chapter  entitled, 

SILVANER   OK   SZIRIFANDL. 

The  writer  says:  "This  tribe,  if  it  may 
be  called  such,  is  composed,  in  distinction 
from  others,  of  subjects  which  have,  for  the 
most  part,  no  affinity  among  themselves, 
and  have  nothing  in  common  except  their 
sylvan  origin.  For  instance,  I  have  received 
from  the  Luxembourg  collection  one  variety 
of  great  value,  under  the  name  of  the  Gleb 
Szirifandl,  and  at  the  same  time  from  Mr. 
Demermety's  collection  the  same  variety 
under  the  name  of  Grim  Muskateller  and 
Griin  Manhard  Traube.  As  I  have  already 
written  enough  of  that  variety,  I  pass  to 
other  Silvaners,  or  Szirifandls. 

"  Griin  Silvaner,  or  Salviner  (along  the 
Rhine),  Oestricher,  Schwabler,  Griin  Frank- 
isch;  Griin  Szirifandl  or  Zierfahnl  (Hungary); 
there  are  even  several  other  names  for  this 
variety,  but  it  seems  to  me  that  these  are 
sufficient. ' ' 

Count  Odart  then  refuses  to  admit  the 
identity  of  this  vine  with  the  Muskateller, 
the  Meslier,  the  Picarneau  or  the  Gueuche 
Blanche,  as  some  had  done.  The  Silvaner, 
he  says,  is  fertile,  ripens  early  enough,  and 
is  agreeable  to  eat.  Its  vinous  properties  he 
considers  poor.  It  will  be  seen  that  he  finds 
the  Silvaner  of  the  Rhine  to  be  the  same  as 
the  Green  Zierfahnl  of  Hungary.  Next  he 
classes — 

"Roth  Szirifandl  or  Zierfahnl— Silvaner 
Rouge"  (Red  Zinfandl  or  Red  Silvaner), 
concerning  which  he  says:  "  It  is  under  the 
first  name  that  I  have  received  it,  and  I 
would  not  dare  to  decide  that  it  is  a  variety 
of  the  preceding,  notwithstanding  what 
Baron  Babo  and  Metzger,  German  Ampelo- 
graphists,  say  of  it.  It  is  always  represented 
to  be  a  very  good  grape  to  eat  and  as  good 
for  the  wine  cellar,  according  to  those 
authors.  I  have  not  enough  plants  to  make 
wine  of  it  separately,  but  the  excellent  Mr. 
Burger,  another  German  Ampeiographist, 
whom  I  saw  in  Vienna  in  1839,  has  boasted 
of  its  aptitude  to  make  good  wine;  he  told  me 
then  that  it  was  the  plant  most  used  in  the 
well  renowned  vineyard  of  Gumboldt 
Kirchen.  The  bunches  are  not  large,  the 
berries  are  round,  of  a  color  light  red,  juice 
very  sweet  and  very  agreeable.  I  have  told 
its  advantages,  I  must  not  keep  silent  upon 


its  great  defect,  which  diminishes  them;  it 
is  very  sensitive  to  the  winter  and  spring 
frosts. 

"  I  shall  only  cause  to  be  remembered  the 
Burgunder  —  vineyard  of  Jungholz,  near 
Guebviller  (Upper  Khine),  or  Blauer  Silva- 
ner — much  cultivated  in  Wurtumberg  under 
the  name  of  Blau  Bodensee  Traube,  accord- 
ing to  Baron  Babo,  although  even  he,  who 
knew  it  well,  refused  to  admit  in  the  tribe 
of  Silvaners.  I  will  remark  here  that  these 
names  Silvaner,  Szirifandl,  signify  found  in 
the  woods;  therefore  there  might  be  others  of 
this  name  and  which  may  not  be  of  the  same 
family. 

"  The  Kiesling,  or  Riesler,  is  also  found  in 
these  vineyards,  but  in  less  degree  than  on 
the  Khine. 

"  The  wine  of  Margrave,  or  the  Duchy  of 
Baden,  is  made  from  three  kinds  of  grapes, 
called  Woelsch.  or  in  other  parts  of  Germany 

GUTEDEL, 

The  German  author,  says  that  these  are  our 
Chasselas,  but  I  have  good  reason  to  believe 
that  they  are  principally  the  Fendants  of 
Switzerland,  the  wine  of  which,  at  the  vine- 
yard of  La  Vaux,  sells  even  up  to  500  francs 
per  barrel.  We  are  told  that  they  mix  these 
grapes  with  the  Mpsler,  which  is  the  Furmint 
of  the  Hungarian,  and  the  Verbouschegg, 
without  giving  any  description  of  these  two 
plants. 

"The  Maerisch  is  served  upon  the  table  in 
the  duchy  of  Baden,  and  its  maturity  is 
early,  like  the  Portugieser,  which  is  also 
much  cultivated  for  the  table,  as  well  as  for 
wine  making.  They  tell  us  nothing  about 
the  Maerisch,  and  I  am  not  acquainted  with 
it;  but  I  cultivate  the  Portugieser,  which  will 
have  its  chapter  under  the  head  of  grapes  for 
the  table. 

"Burger,  Elbling,  Allemand,  Facun — I 
had  omitted  this  variety  in  my  first  editions, 
in  consideration  of  the  little  value  of  its 
vinous  qualities;  but.  as  it  is  very  much  cul- 
tivated by  the  small  \ineyardists  on  the 
Rhine,  I  have  decided  to  give  it  a  place  here. 
Its  product  is  abundant,  no  doubt,  but  it  is 
its  only  advantage,  and  its  bunches  of  round 
berries,  being  of  a  flat  sweetness  and  without 
vinosity,  give  only  a  mediocre  wine;  in  fine, 
these  are  varieties  which  should  be  left  to 
our  neighbors,  for  I  could  have  made  a  tribe 
of  them,  since  there  are  several  varieties,  es- 
pecially a  red  one  which  I  possess." 

This  very  imperfect  chapter  proves  only 
that  tradition  has  attached  to  certain  well 
known  varieties  of  vines  a  sylvan  origin.  It 
means  that  the  Zinfandels,  Rieslings,  Gut- 
edels  and  Burgers  are  wild  vines  cultivated. 
How  many  more  there  might  be  found  is  im- 
possible to  say,  but  probabty  the  Bordeaux 


and  the  Burgundy  grapes  would  come  under 
the  same  head. 

With  this  distinction  in  view,  our  Califor- 
nia wild  vine  might  be  classed  as  a  Zinfan- 
del. 

The  important  fact  I  gather  from  this  study 
is  that  the  vines  which  indicate  a  pure  and 
simple  sylvan  origin  prove  to  be  in  this  State 
our  best  wine  grapes. 

If  the  Zinfandel,  Eiesling,  Gutedel  and 
Burger  are  pure  stock,  we  may  expect  to  im- 
prove rather  than  deteriorate  them  by  plant- 
ing seedlings,  and  that  the  average  result 
of  a  vineyard  planted  with  Zinfandel  seed- 
lings would  be  an  improvement.  In  corrob- 
oration  of  this,  Mr.  G.  Groesinger  tells  me 
that  he  knows  of  Zinfandel  seedlings  in  the 
Napa  Valley  from  which  he  has  made  wine 
identical  with  the  ZinfandeJ.  so  commonly 
known. 

I  recommend  therefore  that  experiments 
should  be  made  to  test  the  practicability  of 
reproducing  our  best  wine  grapes  from  seeds. 
We  may  be  sure  that  when  we  find  the  vari- 
eties which  regularly  reproduce  themselves, 
we  have  found  pure,  sound  stocks,  and  that 
the  best  way  to  plant  a  vineyard  will  be  to 
use  their  seedlings.  This  I  am  convinced 
ought  to  be  done  with  our  Zinfandel.  In 
that  way  viticulture  would  progress  instead 
of  retrograding  as  it  is  doing  now  throughout 
the  world  by  reason  of  the  exhaustion  caused 
by  using  cuttings  only.  If  any  farmer  should 
be  dissatisfied  with  a  vineyard  of  Zinfandel 
seedlings,  he  can  easily  graft  them  and  be 
sure  of  good  roots  to  maintain  his  vineyard. 

FEENCH   AUTHORITIES   ON   SEEDLINGS. 

I  have  searched  everywhere  among  the 
books  on  the  vine  for  something  about  seed- 
lings, and  what  I  find  is  very  little.  There 
is  very  little  known  on  the  subject,  and  the 
future  is  full  of  discovery. 

In  the  traite  de  la  culture  de  la  vigne,  by  B. 
A.  Lenoir,  I  find  an  interesting  chapter.  The 
work  antedates  the  phylloxera  epidemic. 
What  the  writer  says  should  be  exceedingly 
interesting  in  California,  where  the  object 
should  be  to  obtain  vines,  native  to  the  soil, 
modified  from  the  seed  to  suit  a  new  climate 
and  new  conditions  of  growth. 

Mons.  Lenoir  says:  "The  seed  is  the  sur- 
est and  promptest  means  of  obtaining  vari- 
ties  of  a  vegetable.  We  have  a  thousand 
proofs  of  it,  and  yet  we  have  scarcely  tried 
this  method  with  the  vine.  Although  I  have 
made  great  researches  on  this  subject,  I  know 
only  four  facts  relative  to  seedlings  of  the 
vine. 

"The  first  is  cited  by  M.  Bosc,  art.  vigne  of 
the  cours  complete  d'  Ayrwulttire  : 

"  'M.  Van  Mons,  ot  Brussels,  has  obtained 
by  a  grape  seedling,  a  variety  as  large  as  a 


8 


strong  Heine-Claude,  which  ripens,  at  the 
latest,  in  the  first  half  of  August,  and  which 
never  fails  to  produce.  Its  juice  is  very  con- 
sistent and  sweet. ' 

"This  fact  is  very  remarkable.  Brussels  is 
situated  in  a  part  of  Belgium  where  they  can 
not  cultivate  the  vine  in  the  open  field.  * 
The  seedling  has  produced  a  variety,  of  which 
the  maturity  is  precocious  and  complete. 
What  might  not  one  expect,  after  that,  from 
the  same  means  in  a  happier  climate? 

"The  second  fact  is  reported  by  Kozier, 
Art.  espece,  of  his  Cours  d'  Agriculture: 

"  'A  person  near  Lyons  has  planted  seeds 
of  grapes  (I  do  not  know  of  what  kind) ;  he 
has  made  of  them  a  vineyard,  and  the  wine 
which  it  produces  is  not  subject  to  the  malady 
which  afflicted  the  preceding  vines.' 

"Rozier  says  nothing  more  about  it.  How 
was  it  that  a  fact  so  extraordinary,  so  fertile 
in  consequences,  did  not  attract  all  the  atten- 
tion of  the  man  who  sought  with  the  greatest 
care  all  that  could  relate  to  the  culture  of  the 
vine?  *  *  * 

"The  author  of  the  article  vigne,  in  the 
edition  of  the  Dictionary  of  Rozier,  printed 
at  Montardier  in  1802,  says: 

"One  may  also  make  use  of  the  seeds;  but 
this  latter  method  appears  too  slow.  Bu- 
hamel  asserts  that  a  vine  raised  from  the 
seed  had  not  yet  produced  at  his  place  any 
fruit  after  twelve  years  of  culture.' 

"However  a  fact  mentioned  in  the  same 
article,  proves  that  we  cannot  obtain  any 
conclusion  from  the  sole  experience  of 
Duhamel ;  the  non-fructification  of  the  plant, 
coming  from  the  seed  with  him,  might  be  ac- 
counted for  by  the  nature  of  the  variety 
which  furnished  the  seed,  by  local  circum- 
stances, and  especially  by  the  mode  of  culture 
to  which  the  plant  had  been  subjected.  Here 
is  the  passage: 

"  'A  seed  of  this  grape  (the  verjus)  planted 
several  years  ago  in  the  garden  of  the  Chev- 
allier  du  Jansens,  at  Chaillot,  near  Paris,  has 
produced  a  variety  the  fruit  of  which  comes 
to  a  perfect  maturity.  Its  shoots  push  out 
with  an  extreme  vigor,  and  cover  already  a 
great  part  of  the  walls.  The  fruit  of  this 
variety  is  excellent;  it  bears,  no  one  knows 
why,  the  name  of  the  vigne  aspirante.' 

"A  variety  which,  in  the  climate  of  Paris, 
yields  grapes  which  never  ripen,  or  which  ac- 
quire in  the  warmest  years  only  a  sweetish 
flavor,  has  produced  in  the  same  climate,  by 
the  seed,  a  variety  the  fruit  of  which  attains 
complete  maturity  and  is  excellent.  And  in 
a  long  article  on  the  vine,  where  such  a  fact 
is  cited,  no  induction  is  drawn  !  This  fact, 
however,  bears  in  itself  the  germ  of  an  en- 
tire revolution,  which  will  break  out  sooner 
or  later  in  our  vineyards." 

Further  on  I   find  a  passage  which  com- 


pletely supersede  the  Montpellier  gentleman 
whom  I  referred  to  in  a  letter  to  the  Alia, 
as  claiming  the  glory  of  inventing  the  idea 
of  grafting  upon  American  vines.  It  is  as 
follows : 

"I  do  not  exclude  from  these  essays  the 
species  which  are  still  in  a  wild  state.  There 
are  several,  especially  in  America,  which 
yield  fruit  sufficiently  good,  which,  by  culti- 
vation, would  yield  better.  These  kinds, 
multiplied  by  seeds,  would  produce,  perhaps, 
very  interesting  varieties,  were  it  not  only  on 
account  of  the  property  of  resisting  intem- 
perate seasons,  which  the  kinds  to  which 
they  would  owe  their  origin  support  very 
well  under  the  most  variable  climate  of  our 
hemisphere.  These  species  would  commu- 
nicate, perhaps,  by  means  of  the  graft,  their 
robust  temperament  to  our  vines.  The 
American  vines  are  all  dioiques;  it  is  a  ques- 
tion whether  they  would  support  the  graft  of 
our  vines.  It  is  an  experiment  very  easy  to 
make,  and  merits  being  made." 

Here  let  me  remark  that  the  viticulturists 
of  the  Eastern,  Western  and  Southern  States, 
who,  failing  in  cultivating  the  European 
varieties  after  repeated  efforts,  have  made 
such  wonderful  progress  with  the  wild  vines, 
ought  to  excite  by  their  examples  some  spirit 
of  emulation  among  the  people  of  California, 
who  have  everything  favorable  to  vine  culture, 
and  yet  are  quite  content  to  borrow  varieties 
from  Europe,  which  never  produce  the  same 
wines  in  different  places.  In  California  we 
have  the  advantage  of  the  growth  of  the 
superior  European  vines;  we  should  now  try 
to  acclimate  them  through  seedlings,  and 
possibly  to  regenerate  and  improve  them. 

The  principal  thing  to  remember  in  grow- 
ing seedlings  is  that  the  nature  of  the  plant 
must  be  consulted  with  reference  to  pruning. 
If  it  needs  to  have  support,  its  growth  will 
indicate  it.  Some  vines,  in  the  wild  state, 
climb  over  tall  trees  ;  others  grow  low  to  the 
ground. 

In.  1867,  before  the  phylloxera  had  at- 
tracted public  attention,  in  a  work  entitled 
La  Vigne,  by  Romualdo  Dejernon,  published 
at  Pau,  near  the  Pyrenees  (Auguste  Lafon, 
No.  3  Rue  Henri  IV.),  there  is  an  interesting 
chapter  on  seedlings.  In  one  paragraph  he 
suggests  the  increased  vigor  of  the  naturally 
reproduced  plant : 

' '  The  plant,  issue  of  the  seed,  is  always 
the  best,  has  the  most  life,  that  which  should 
preserve  for  the  longest  time  superior  quali- 
ties. The  multiplication  by  seeds  yields 
subjects  more  robust,  varieties  less  rebellious 
to  new  climates  to  which  one  wishes  to 
habituate  them."  Again  he  says,  as  if  in 
prediction  of  the  present  question  of  phyllox- 
era, "  the  seedlings  are  also  excellent  to  re- 
generate a  race  of  vines  exhausted  by  a  long 


succession  of  multiplications  by  cuttings. 
They  furnish,  also,  for  the  graft,  subjects 
much  more,  vigorous  and  of  longer  life  than 
those  which  it  is  possible  to  obtain  in  any 
other  way." 

But  we  are  in  danger  of  losing  many  vari- 
eties by  natural  decay,  without  counting  the 
effects  of  phylloxera.  Mr.  Dejernon  says  : 
"  We  have  no  longer  the  varieties  which 
yielded  the  great  wines  of  antiquity;  the/wr- 
ttiint  of  Tokai,  the  sirrah  of  the  Hermitage, 
have  lost  their  force  and  vitality  ;  therefore, 
varieties  disappear.  Pliny  could  find  no 
longer  the  plants  cultivated  in  the  time  of 
Cato ;  neither  could  Olivier  de  Serres  those  in 
honor  in  the  time  of  Pliny  ;  and  we  ourselves 
have  lost  more  than  the  half  of  the  varieties 
described  by  La  Quintinie." 

THE    BUD   SEEDLING. 

The  same  author  describes  the  invention 
of  a  peasant,  Hudelot,  which  has  proved  a 
success.  It  combines  the  idea  of  a  seedling 
and  a  cutting.  In  the  Fall  or  Winter, 
healthy,  vigorous  canes  of  the  vine  are  se- 
lected ;  each  bud,  or  eye,  that  appears  well 
developed,  is  separated  by  cutting  the  stem 
across,  leaving  a  section  about  an  eighth  of 
an  inch  on  each  side  of  the  eye.  In  the 
Spring  these  buds  are  planted  just  as  seeds 
are,  in  light  soil,  about  an  inch  and  a  half  or 
two  inches  deep .  The  result  is  claimed  to 
be  a  vigorous  plant,  partaking  of  the  unity 
between  roots  and  upper  growth  that  the 
seedling  exhibits,  and  at  the  same  time  pre- 
serving the  exact  type  or  variety  of  vine. 

Dr.  Duyot,  in  his  work  on  the  vine,  com- 
mends this  plan  of  reproduction.  He  calls  it 
a  graft  and  a  seedling  accomplished  at  the 
same  time.  It  is  worthy  of  experiment  in 
California. 

Mr.  Payen  has  experimented  with  a  modi- 
fication of  this  plan  by  taking  the  bud,  or 
eye,  with  a  portion  of  the  adjacent  bark  and 
wood,  scarcely  more  than  used  in  bud  graft- 
ing. The  results  of  comparison  are  that  the 
Hudelot  system  insures  stronger  and  larger 
pivotal  roots,  while  the  other  produces  more 
numerous  rootlets,  and  has  produced  fruit  in 
the  second  year. 

INSTRUCTIONS   FOB   PLANTING   SEEDS 

Are  to  be  found  in  the  work  of  Lenoir,  and 
in  a  recent  pamphlet  by  Mr.  A.  H.  Trimou- 
let,  of  Bordeaux  (Eleventh  letter  on  "The 
Phylloxera)."  *Mr.  Trimoulet  quotes  the 
method  of  M.  Vibert,  pepinierist,  of  Angers, 
which  appeared  in  the  thirteenth  year,  No.  1, 
of  the  "  Bulletin  of  the  Industrial  Society  of 
Angers." 

It  is  a  fact  worthy  of  remark  that  the  fa- 
vorite American  vine  now  cultivated  in 
France-  -the  Jacquez — is  being  obtained  from 
cuttings  of  the  Lenoir  variety  of  Texas,  now 


considered  to  be  the  same.  Whether  it  was 
named  after  Mr.  Leuoir,  whose  work  I  have 
mentioned,  or  whether  •  it  obtained  its  name 
(le  noir)  from  its  dark-colored  fruit,  I  do  not 
know  ;  but  it  is  singular  that  the  great 
writer's  predictions  should  be  first  verified 
with  a  plant  bearing  his  own  name. 

THE    PHYLLOXEKA    IN   FRANCE. 

While  I  was  in  Bordeaux  in  1878  I  wrote  as 
follows : 

The  vines   of    the  Gironde  have   several 
critical  periods  to   pass  through  each  year, 
notably  among  which  are:  First — the  season 
of  frost;  Second — the  season  of  dew;  Third — 
oidium,  and  all  the   time  the  season  of  phyl- 
loxera.    The  frost  affects  buds  and  the   ten- 
der leaves;  the  dew,  falling  upon  the  flowers 
and  succeeded  by  the   warm   sun-rays,  kills 
many  of  the  germs  of  the  berries  and  reduces 
the  crop;  the  oidium,  a  kind   of  fungus,  at- 
tacks the  fruit,  shrivels  and  rots  it  before  ma- 
turity.    In  the  Medoc,  this  year,  the  oidrum 
has  greatly  reduced  the   crop,  and  in  the   re- 
gion of  Saut  ernes  the   dew  has  done  much 
damage.     I  have  to-day  learned  that  the  pro- 
duct of  Chateau  Yquem   this  year  is  only 
fiftv-five   tonneaus — 13,200  gallons — instead 
of  the  average  yield   of  28,800  gallons;  this 
decrease  is  caused  by  dew  principally.     The 
oidium,    which,  for  a  number  of  years  al- 
most destroyed  the  French  wine   interest, 
completely  destroyed  the  Madeira,  and  was 
the   occasion   of    introducing  the  American 
vines  into  France  to  experiment  with,  is  corn- 
batted  by  means  of  sulphur,  but  the  results 
show  that  the  vines   are  still  subject  to  the 
disease.     The    phylloxera    is   only    another 
proof  of   their  weakness.      / 

I  have  already  described  the  ravages  of  the 
phylloxera  in  the  Cognac  country,  which  is 
the  extension  of  this  region  to  the  north  and 
northeast.  These  ravages  extend  down  to 
the  banks  of  the  Garonne  and  the  Gironde, 
covering  four-fifths  of  this  Department, 
where  not  more  than  a  third  of  a  crop  is  ob- 
tained at  this  vintage.  The  west  side  of  the 
Garonne,  on  the  edges  of  the  great  Medoc, 
Graves  and  Sauternes  vineyards,  is  also  af- 
fected in  numerous  places,  but  here  the  pro- 
gress is  not  rapid. 

Neither  richness  nor  poverty  of  soil  seem 
to  have  any  close  connection  with  this  ques- 
tion. In  the  Charente  and  in  the  valley  of 
the  Rhone  the  soil  is  what  we  should  call 
poor;  there  the  phylloxera  revels.  In  the 
palus,  the  bottom  lands  of  this  legion,  where 
the  soil  is  very  'rich  and  the  vines  grow  ap- 
parently thriftily,  the  phylloxera  also  revels. 
But  where  the  vines  produce  the  finest  wines, 
there  the  phylloxera  advances  slowly  and 
seems  checked.  The  regions  of  poor  wines 
have  been  devastated.  No  great  vineyards 


10 


have  yet  been  ruined,  unless  we  count  as 
such  the  vineyards  of  Frontignan,  in  the 
Midi,  where  sweet  muscat  wines  were  pro- 
duced, famous  as  virts  de  liqueurs. 

I  know  a  great  deal  more  about  this  ques- 
tion than  when  I  first  began  to  study  it.  I 
.  have  in  fact  "gone  the  rounds"  of  all  the 
various  theories  and  experiments.  Much  that 
I  wrote  at  first  I  should  now  modify;  but,  in 
the  main,  the  essential  principle,  which  I  at 
first  pointed  out,  remains  intact — the  ques- 
tion of  vitality  of  the  vine. 

The  finest  vineyards  have  escaped  so  far, 
not  by  reason  of  especial  precautions,  but  by 
reason  of  some  natural  immunity,  or  special 
condition,  which  has  not  yet  been  explained. 
The  plague  surrounds  the  Medoc,  Graves  and 
Vins  Blancs,  except  on  the  west  and  south, 
where  no  vines  grow.  It  has  been  for  several 
years  in  spots  in  these  districts,  but  does  not 
seem  to  spread  seriously.  It  is  not  a  ques- 
tion of  the  variety  of  vines,  because  the  same 
varieties  have  succumbed  in  other  parts.  The 
fact  remains  that  where  the  vine  first  demon- 
strated success,  it  continues  to  hold  the 
ground.  The  pest  has  jumped  over  the  fine 
Burgundy  district  into  Switzerland  and  Ger- 
many. It  is  working  only  slowly  into  Bur- 
gundy vineyards. 

,  It  is  impossible  to  draw  satisfactory  con- 
clusions from  even  the  official  reports  of  the 
various  committees  in  different  parts  of 
France,  each  of  which  is  especially  the  friend 
of  some  single  remedy.  All  remedies  fail  in 
general,  and  all  succeed  in  particular.  Such 
is  the  general  conclusion  I  reach  after  read- 
ing scores  of  pamphlets. 

There  are  two  prominent  classes  of  opin- 
ions. Those  eng'aged  in  solving  the  problem, 
such  as  scientists  and  men  specially  engaged 
or  connected  by  official  relations  with  agri- 
cultural societies  and  committees,  believe  in 
and  advocate  this,  that,  or  the  other  remedy. 
The  practical  vine-growers,  wine  merchants 
and  people  generally,  unite  in  one  common 
refrain,  "Iln 'y  a  rien  afaire,"  ("There  is 
nothing  to  do.")  Scores  of  successful 
remedies,  well  attested,  are  announced;  but 
few,  except  the  experimenters,  practice  any 
of  them. 

This  confusion  is  chiefly  due  to  the  want 
of  harmony  between  those  who  conduct  the 
experiments.  The  offer  of  a  great  prize  by 
the  Government  and  the  cupidity  of  many 
who  have  nostrums  to  sell,  have  begotten  a 
spirit  of  rivalry  and  contention ;  some  con- 
tend for  the  prize  more  for  the  honor  of  dis- 
covery, still  more  to  maintain  hastily-formed 
opinions  uttered  early  in  the  strife,  and 
many  more  to  advertise  methods  in  which 
they  have  a  speculative  interest.  This  may 
account  in  part  for  the  apathy  of  the  people, 


for  when  all  the  doctors  disagree  how  can 
they  believe  in  medicine? 

The  first  cause  of  apathy  on  the  part  of 
vine-growers  is,  probably,  because  all  pro- 
posed remedies  contemplate  either  great  ex- 
penses or  radical  changes  in  their  vineyards. 

The  remedies  may  all  be  grouped  under 
two  heads :  First,  those  which  are  directed 
simply  against  the  phylloxera ;  second,  those 
which  come  to  the  support  of,  or  regenera- 
tion of  the  vine. 

Practically,  it  may  be  said  that  all  insecti- 
cides fail  in  checking  the  plague.  Only 
those  succeed  in  part  and  in  exceptional 
places  which  are  accompanied  by  either  rich 
manures  or  improved  cultivation. 

The  best  attested  successes  are  where  the 
soil  is  treated  with  compounds  of  potash  and 
nitrogenious  manures;  but  these  fail  where 
the  plague  is  worst,  and  appears  irresistible. 
They  succeed,  however,  often  enough  to 
demonstrate  that  the  presence  of  potash  and 
nitrogen  assist  the  vine  to  resist  the  disease. 
Good  results  have  been  obtained  by  the  use 
of  simple  carbonate  of  potash,  wood  ashes, 
and  sulfo-carbonate  of  potash.  The  most 
remarkable  result  was  obtained  near  Keole 
in  this  Department  by  the  use  of  simple 
chiffon,  the  fine  debris  from  a  hat  factory, 
cuttings  and  trimmings  of  wool — an  animal 
and  nitrogenous  manure. 

Let  it  be  remembered  that  vines  extract 
potash  from  the  soil,  which  is  not  returned, 
and  that  vinyards  are  seldom  well  manured, 
and  are  generally  in  poor  soils.  For  a  long 
time  there  existed  a  law  in  France,  prohibit- 
ing the  manuring  of  vineyards.  Lands  suit- 
able for  vines  have  been  cultivated,  without 
resting,  for  centuries;  so  also  have  lands  un- 
suited  to  such  culture.  The  natural  con- 
sequence is — exhaustion  of  soils.  What  that 
exhaustion  is,  cannot  be  easily  determined, 
because  underneath  all  speculations  of 
chemistry,  there  is  the  vital  principle,  which 
cannot  be  renewed  at  will,  and  which  no 
themical  study  of  manures  can  account  for. 

Every  ordinary  rule  of  nature  has  been 
violated  in  the  culture  of  the  vine.  It  is 
known  to  all  agriculturists  that,  not  only  a 
rotation  of  crops  is  necessary  to  preserve 
vegetable  fertility  and  health,  but  also  it  is 
desirable  to  change  the  seed  from  one  dis- 
trict to  another.  This  has  not  been  done 
with  the  vine. 

Again,  there  is  the  evil  »f  over-crowding. 
What  is  true  of  human  kind,  is  true  of 
vegetation.  Over-crowded  communities  of 
vines,  as  well  as  of  men,  may  breed  con- 
tagious diseases,  by  the  violation  of  some 
hidden  law  of  nature,  which  seems  to  have 
for  its  end  the  preservation  of  equilibrium  on 
the  face  of  the  earth. 


11 


Independent  of  any  theory  upon  the  sub- 
ject, this  feature  of  vine  culture  must  be 
considered  as  one  of  the  conditions  present 
at  the  time  of  the  development  and  spread  of 
this  plague.  Moreover,  the  phylloxera  is  not 
the  only  indication  of  conditions  favoring 
disease.  The  oidium  was,  until  the  sulphur 
treatment  was  discovered,  a  worse  plague 
than  the  phylloxera  is  now.  But  sulphur 
does  not  cure  oidium;  it  only  alleviates  the 
trouble.  The  original  causes  remain  and  the 
sulphur  treatment  has  become  an  annual 
necessity.  So,  also,  with  all  the  proposed 
remedies  directed  against  the  phylloxera. 
All  of  them,  even  submersion,  have  to  be 
continually  repeated.  Everything,  so  far, 
indicates  a  radical  source  of  evil,  either  in 
the  vines  or  the  soils. 

As  compared  with  all  other  multipli- 
cations of  animal  or  vegetable  growth, 
the  culture  of  the  vine  in  France 
has  become  overcrowded,  and  presents 
the  primary  condition,  which,  with  mankind 
especially,  favors  the  generation  of  germs  of 
contagious  diseases;  diseases  that  commence 
in  favoring  places  and  afterward  travel  over 
the  whole  earth,  even  devastating  places 
where  conditions  are  most  favorable  to  health. 
Such  diseases  yield  to  no  specifics.  People 
light  them  with  general  sanitary  measures, 
and  use  so-called  specifics  only  as  second- 
ary aids. 

The  vine,  however,  cannot  tell  its  own 
wants;  cannot  change  its  soil  and  climate, 
depends  solely  upon  the  cultivation ;  and  the 
cultivator,  practically,  can  do  nothing  suc- 
cessfully, because,  generally,  he  aims  to  pre- 
serve the  very  conditions  that  have  produced 
the  disease,  if  disease  it  is.  He  tries  to  main- 
tain the  same  number  of  vines  upon  impov- 
erished soils,  and  opposes  the  regeneration 
of  the  vines  themselves. 

If  this  is  a  contagious  disease,  similar  in 
general  features  to  other  contagions,  it  is 
enough  to  know  there  was  good  cause  for  it 
in  France.  The  fact  that  it  attacks  places 
where  such  causes  do  not  apparently  exist, 
is  not  a  good  basis  for  argument  against  the 
theory,  because  the  same  is  true  of  diseases 
that  develop, 'spread,  gain  force  and  attack 
the  human  race;  only,  if  the  theory  be  sound, 
the  attacks  may  be  expected  to  do  least 
damage,  and  to  be  least  frequent,  when  the 
original  favoring  conditions  are  wanting,  or 
are  in  less  degree  existing. 

Strengthening  the  soil  with  the  elements, 
which  the  vine  needs,  succeeds  often ;  this  is 
one  step  toward  solving  the  problem.  Every- 
where in  France  I  find  certain  of  su^ch  remedies 
advocated,  and  supported  by  proofs  of  suc- 
cess, and  everywhere,  more  or  less,  denounced 
as  useless.  Hence,  it  is  apparent  that, 
though  if  they  had  been  applied  in  the 


beginning  they   might  have   prevented    the 
plague,  they  are  not  now  specific  cures. 

I  cannot  derive  much  comfort  from  a  study 
of  soils.  The  general  notion  that  sand  is  an 
obstacle  to  the  phylloxera  comes  only  from 
the  fact  that  in  certain  places,  where  the 
vines  are  still  safe,  the  soil  is  sandy.  But 
this  feature  must  be  better  understood. 
Such  soils  are  simply  sandy  loam,  where, 
centuries  ago,  it  was  found  that  the  vine 
succeeded  and  produced  the  best  wine.  The 
absence  of  phylloxera  in  such  places  only 
furnishes  another  proof  that  the  soil  is  good 
for  the  vine.  But  there  are  many  other  con- 
ditions present  besides  a  sandy  loam.  The 
Medoc  vineyards,  which  are  still  unaffected, 
have  good  drainage  and  furnish  favorable 
conditions  for  the  growth  of  healthy  and 
deep  roots;  but  the  adjacent  bottom  lands 
are  moist,  with  water  near  the  surface,  into 
which  the  vine  does  not  like  to  dip  its  roots, 
and  the  roots,  being  near  the  surface,  are 
easily  attacked.  The  Medoc  is  also  subject 
to  the  action  of  sea  breezes  and  the  influence 
of  a  sea  shore.  A  sandy  soil  on  hillsides 
favors  deep  rooting. 

One  of  the  rules  for  combatting  phylloxera 
has  been  deduced  from  these  facts  and  con- 
ditions, viz :  deep  cultivation  and  underground 
pruning  to  promote  deep  rooting.  It  has 
succeeded,  like  all  other  remedies,  when  tried 
by  the  man  who  advocates  it. 

The  insecticides,  such  as  the  sulphide  of 
carbon,  succeed  just  as  fumigation,  etc., 
succeed  in  protecting  otherwise  healthy  peo- 
ple from  contagious  diseases.  It  kills  the 
attacking  germs,  which  come  again  and  must 
be  killed  again  and  again  until  the  plague 
subsides.  Where,  however,  the  conditions 
appear  favorable  to  the  disease,  the  sulphide 
of  carbon  and  all  insecticides  fail,  because  it 
is  practically  impossible  to  apply  them  effect- 
ually without  killing  also  the  vines. 

It  is  only  when  we  begin  to  consider  the 
constitution  of  the  vine  itself  that  any  confi- 
dence in  results  seems  to  be  shown.  I  have 
already  described  the  American  vine  theory, 
as  advocated  at  Montpellier.  It  is  gaining 
ground  all  through  France,  notwithstanding 
the  greatest  reluctance  in  substituting  wild 
plants  for  the  civilized  vine.  It  is  already 
the  favorite  theory  in  the  parts  of  this  section 
where  the  vineyards  are  ruined,  and  is 
scouted  where  the  vineyards  are  still  safe. 

The  principle  reason  for  its  growing  popu- 
larity is  because  it  offers  an  immediate  means 
for  reconstituting  destroyed  vineyards  with- 
out the  necessity  of  expensive  and  continuous 
annual  treatments  with  insecticides,  which 
are  not  often  sure  except  under  scientific 
supervision.  It  also  offers  a  means  for  pre- 
serving the  favorite  French  vines  by  means 
of  grafting,  This  method  finds  also  numer- 


12 


ous  advocates  who  have  not  only  a  theory  to 
advance,  but  profit  in  its  advancement. 
Nearly  all  the  advocates  of  American  vines 
are  making  large  profits  by  the  sale  of  plants 
and  cuttings.  I  could  astonish  my  readers 
if  I  should  reproduce  some  of  the  passages 
in  the  numerous  pamphlets  and  books  on 
American  vines,  extolling  even  the  merits 
of  the  wines  produced  from  them.  Many  of 
them  assert  positively  that  the  wines,  for 
instance,  from  the  Mustang  grape  of  Texas 
are  superior  to  the  finest  French  wines,  and 
at  the  same  time  describe  the  method  of 
making  such  wines  as  requiring  the  addition 
of  sugar  and  alcohol  to  give  them  body.  A 
witty  opponent  of  American  vines  suggests 
that  equal  results  can  be  obtained  by  taking 
barrel  of  river  water,  adding  sugar  and  alcohol. 
But  nevertheless  the  American  vine  men 
are  in  the  lead,  and  very  soon  there  will  be 
more  American  vines  cultivated  in  France 
than  in  America.  In  this  effort,  however, 
each  merchant  is  advocating  the  variety  that 
he  has  to  sell,  while  the  experiments  prove 
that  the  best,  for  the  purpose,  are  the  wildest 
original  varieties.  It  will,  therefore,  become 
soon  a  question  of  supplying  grafting  stock. 

But  here  we  reach  a  new  question  which  I 
have  already  touched  upon.  When  in  Paris, 
before  studying  the  question  in  the  vineyards, 
I  happened  to  fall  upon  the  mere  suggestion 
of  the  idea  of  regenerating  the  vineyards  by 
means  of  seedlings.  It  appeared  to  me  to 
be  so  reasonable  that  I  dwelt  upon  it  with 
some  force. 

I  inquired  everywhere  I  went,  asking  where 
I  could  find  authorities  on  the  subject.  It 
surprised  me  that  I  was  everywhere  repulsed. 
People,  interested  nominally  in  the  problem 
of  fightiug  the  phylloxera,  but  really  in  ad- 
vancing some  pet  notion,  which  promised,  if 
popular,  to  become  profitable,  seemed  to 
consider  the  idea  as  heretical  in  the  extreme. 
At  Montpellier,  I  saw  rows  of  seedlings  of 
French  as  well  as  American  vines.  I  could 
see  no  difference  in  the  results,  but  I  was 
told  curtly,  without  explanation  or  proof, 
that  the  European  seedlings  would  not  resist. 
It  was  true,  no  doubt,  tha:  many  of  them 
would  succumb  to  the  plylloxera;  it  was 
equally  true  of  the  American  vines,  for  out 
of  hundreds  of  varieties  of  the  latter,  only 
five  or  six  are  proof  against  the  severe  attack 
of  the  pest. 

Persisting  in  my  inquiries,  at  the  risk  of 
offending  the  savans,  most  of  whom  were 
speculators  in  American  vines,  I  was  referred 
to  Mr.  Bouschet,  the  noted  pepirderlst,  as  one 
who  propagates  by  seeds  is  called.  He  told 
me  so  positively  that  the  seedlings  were  fail- 
ures that  I  lost  nearly  all  faith  in  the  idea. 
Since  then  I  have  learned  that  he,  also,  is  a 
trader  in  American  vines. 


Prof.  Foex  advanced  an  interesting  theory 
concerning  the  cause  of  the  resistance  of 
American  vines,  viz:  The  physical  consti- 
tution of  the  roots  affording  protection  on 
account  of  structure.  But  a  distinguished 
naturalist  here  sagely  remarks  that  Prof. 
Foex  has  compared  under  the  microscope 
roots  of  young  American  with  roots  of  old, 
exhausted  European  vines.  The  conditions 
of  observation  have  not  been  the  same. 

The  fact  still  remains  that  the  European 
vines  are  the  product  of  cuttings,  through 
successive  centuries,  from  vines,  the  original 
germs  of  which  were  planted  centuries  ago. 
If  it  is  a  sound  doctrine  that  these  vines 
do  not  become  exhausted  in  vitality  by  such 
methods  of  multipiication,  then  k  follows 
that  the  primal  law  of  nature  has  exceptions, 
and  that,  without  regeneration  by  seed,  the 
vine  may  be  perpetuated  forever. 

I  have,  however,  found  some  satisfaction 
here  in  the  consideration  of  what  I  think 
may  be  properly  termed  the  natural  theory 
of  propagation.  If  this  holds  true,  it  does 
much  to  establish  the  true  theory  of  the 
phylloxera,  as  disease,  rather  than  as  the 
original  cause  of  disease.  Having  found 
that  support,  through  amelioration  of  the 
soil,  aids  the  plant  to  resist,  if  amelioration 
of  the  fconstitution  of  the  plant  by  natural 
means  also  adds  to  the  resistance,  the  prob- 
lem is  practically  solved. 

But  there  are  reasons  for  opposition  to  the 
method  of  regeneration  from  the  seed,  which 
must  first  be  considered.  The  vine-growers 
know  that  by  seedlings  the  character  of  the 
yield  of  the  vines  may  be  more  or  less 
changed.  He  fears  changes.  He  thinks  he 
knows  that  the  roots  of  the  American  vine 
will  resist  and  will  support  grafts;  hence  he 
is  satisfied  with  the  remedy.  Every  one  can 
plant  seeds;  hence  there  is  not  so  much  ad- 
vantage in  that  method  to  the  promoters,  who 
try  to  monopolize  the  field  in  selling  new 
cuttings  and  plants.  Phylloxera  is,  in  all 
events,  a  disease,  and  the  country  is  full  of 
quack  doctors  and  patent  medicine.  In  Cal- 
ifornia we  have  not  a  million  acres  of  dead 
vines;  two  or  three  thousand  million  dead 
plants  to  replace;  hence  we  can  afford  to  be 
less  excitable  on  the  subject.  We  have  new 
vineyards  to  create,  instead  of  old  ones  to 
restore;  hence  we  can  well  afford  to  begin 
with  sound  principles  of  multiplication  and 
reproduction.  We  have  no  traditional  vines 
and  wines  to  preserve;  hence  we  need  not 
fear  changes.  We  may,  indeed,  hope  for 
improvements,  for  the  vine  has  improved 
during  past  ages;  the  viticulturists  of  East- 
ern States  have  improved  the  wild  vines,  and 
we  may  do  something,  also,  with  the  super- 
ior vines  that  are  suited  to  our  climate. 
But  I  am  happy  to  say  that  the  question 


13 


is  not  entirely  theoretical.  It  was,  at  first, 
certain  accidental  growths  of  seedlings  in  in- 
fected places  that  attracted  attention  to  their 
superior  constitutions.  Since  then,  notwith- 
standing the  opposition  of  quacks  in  phyl- 
loxera medicines,  the  real  scientists  have 
been  making  progress  by  beginning  with 
natural  reproduction. 

There  have  been,  I  now  learu,  several 
experimental  vineyards  of  seedlings  com- 
menced. 

To  begin  with,  I  will  explain  some  of  the 
fundamental  principles.  A  cane,  cut  from  a 
vine,  is  well  known  to  be  hollow  within. 
When  planted,  to  reproduce  its  kind,  or, 
rather,  to  continue  its  kind,  it  throws  down 
no  central  tap  root.  This,  alone,  is  a  source 
of  weakness,  without  considering  the  exhaus- 
tion of  vitality  by  such  methods.  I  have 
with  me  two  samples  of  seedlings — one  a 
year  old;  another  two  years  old.  Each  has 
a  strong  tap  root,  heavier,  longer  and  thicker 
than  the  wood  made  above  ground.  Such  a 
root,  even  if  the  phylloxera  is  not  to  be  con- 
sidered as  a  consequence  of  exhausted  vines, 
cannot  easily  be  attacked  by  the  insect. 
Hence,  seedlings  may  be  the  best  stock  to 
replenish  a  vineyard,  without  recourse  to 
cuttings,  just  as  fine  fruit  trees  are  grafted 
on  seedlings. 

Experience  is  doubtful  on  the  subject  of 
reproduction  of  varieties  by  seeds.  It  is, 
no  doubt,  true  that  there  are  varieties  which 
can  seldom  be  reproduced.  The  Delaware 
grape  is  an  instance  of  this.  But  this  may 
be  true  in  a  greater  or  less  degree  with  dif- 
ferent varieties,  in  proportion  as  such  varie- 
ties are  more  or  less  true  to  their  parent  plants 

Seedlings,  also,  do  not  grow  with  equal 
vigor;  some  are  more  delicate  than  others. 
This  is  true  of  all  reproduction.  The  child 
is  generally,  but  not  always,  destined  to  out- 
live the  parent,  and  the  hybrids  of  races  are 
generally  weak.  A  friend  writes  me  that 
"  that  seedling  theory  won't  hold,"  because 
the  Catawba  and  Isabella  yield  to  the  disease, 
and  yet  are  new  varieties,  and,  consequently, 
young.  In  answer  to  this,  first,  those  varie- 
ties are  said  to  be  hybrids  of 
European  witfc  American  vines,  and, 
perhaps,  weak  on  that  account; 
second,  it  is  not  to  be  expected  that  all  im- 
proved varieties  shall  be  vigorous,  healthy 
plants;  third,  there  are  instances  in  the 
vicinity  of  Bordeaux  where  these  varieties 
succeeded  in  the  midst  of  infected  districts, 
but  no  wine  merchant  has  them  for  sale; 
fourth,  perhaps,  after  all,  the  superiority  of 
a  seedling  consists  in  the  original  plant,  and 
not  in  the  after-reproductions  by  cuttings, 
such  as  all  the  recent  plantations  of  Catawbas 
and  Isabellas  are. 


But  exceptions  do  not  make,  they  only 
prove  rules. 

The  Viticultural  Union  of  the  Eutre-deux- 
mers  in  this  Department  is  experimenting 
with  all  the  proposed  remedies. 
The  annual  report  gives  the  results  of 
insecticides,  potash,  and  all  kinds  of  manure, 
cuttings  and  also  seedlings.  There  are,  side 
by  side,  cuttings  of  the  wild  vines  of  France, 
as  well  as  of  the  vines  of  America,  and  seed- 
lings of  all  varieties.  The  results  of  seed- 
lings and  wild  vines,  and  the  failures 
generally  of  methods  to  protect  old  vines, 
have  led  the  Union  to  decide  positively  in 
favor  of  seedlings,  and  to  declare  that  the 
phylloxera,  as  an  epidemic,  is  the  result  of 
several  causes  combined,  chief  among  which 
are  exhaustion  of  soil,  overproduction,  and 
exhaustion  of  the  vine. 

First,  there  Is  the  experiment  analagous  to 
that  of  the  American  vine.  Cuttings  were 
made  from  wild  vines  growing  in  this  district. 
Such  vines  were  considered  unfruitful  and 
useless.  The  young  plants  succeed,  resist 
the  phylloxera  equally  with  the  American 
vines,  and  this  year, -the  third  of  their  growth, 
have  yielded  abundantly  not  wild  grapes,  but 
fine  bunches,  similar  to  the  product  of  the 
vines  in  the  Medoc. 

Two  conclusions  are  drawn  from  this  fact: 
First,  that  the  wild  vines,  being  seedlings, 
partake  of  the  same  vital  vigor  as  the  Ameri- 
can vines,  which  are  seedlings,  or  cuttings 
made  in  recent  years  from  seedlings.  The 
College  at  Montpellier  has  not  extended  its 
operations  seriously  outside  the  range  of  the 
stocks  of  vine  speculators.  There  is  no 
sample  of  the  wild  vine  of  California  (vitis 
Calif ornica)  in  the  collection  there,  notwith- 
standing it  is  the  vine  of  a  country  whose 
climate  agrees  with  the  constitution  of  the 
European  varieties.  The  Union  of  the  Entre- 
deux-mers  is  desirous  of  procuring  cuttings 
from  the  California  vine,  seeds,  etc.,  which  I 
have  promised  to  forward. 

The  second  conclusion  is  that  good  fruit 
may  be  obtained  from  wild  vines,  when  cul- 
tivated, sometimes,  at  least.  The  American 
vine-growers  have  demonstrated  the  possi- 
bility of  improving;  the  product  of  wild  vines. 
The  wild  vines  of  this  region  are,  perhaps, 
only  accidental  seedlings  of  the  cultivated 
vines.  If  this  be  true,  the  result  demon- 
strates the  possibility  of  reproduction  by 
seed.  For  this  reason,  I  have  arranged  to 
procure  seeds  of  the  principal  varieties  grown 
here.  After  all,  it  may  be  that  these  Medoc 
vines  are  native  grapes.  Their  history  goes 
back  to  the  days  of  the  Romans,  and  they 
bear  local  names  in  the  patois  of  the  country. 
They  have  been  reproduced  by  cuttings  so 
long  that  longevity  is  certain,  and  it  is  a  rule 
to  select  seeds  of  vines  from  plants,  the  vari- 


14 


eties  of  which  have  been  the  longest  known. 
Having  demonstrated  thus  far  the  superi- 
ority of  cuttings  of  different  vines  near  to 
the  original  seedling,  the  next  question  in 
this  direction  is  that  of  simple  seedlings.  At 
the  experimental  vineyard  of  the  Union  men- 
tioned, there  are  thousands  of  seedlings,  from 
one  to  three  years  old,  the  products  of  seeds 
of  all  the  well-known  varieties  of  this  coun- 
try, as  well  as  of  American  and  French  wild 
vines.  These  seedlings  are  in  a  nourishing 
condition. 

I  have  had  several  long  consultations  with 
Mr.  Triinoulet,  the  Vice  President  of  the 
Union  and  the  especial  advocate  of  the  seed- 
ling theory.  He  has  given  me  copies  of  his 
pamphlets  and  reports  of  the  Union.  He 
thinks  that  generally,  when  seeds  are  taken 
from  vines,  where  the  varieties  are  not  mixed, 
the  new  plants  will  reproduce  the  original. 
But  here  he  stops,  and,  as  it  appears  to  me, 
suggests  a  plan  very  much  superior  to  that  of 
the,  American  vine  .advocates.  He  advises 
the  planting  of  seeds,  taking  care  to  select 
from  fruit  which  has  not  been  exposed  to 
accidental  hybridization.  This  can  be  done 
as  easily  as  carrot  seeds  can  be  planted,  and 
in  about  the  same  way.  Improved  methods 
may  be  suggested  for  the  careful  and  experi- 
enced seed-gardener.  The  soil  needs  to  be 
light  and  well  drained.  At  the  end  of  one 
year,  select  only  the  vigorous  plants  and  set 
them  out  in  the  vineyard,  which,  if  once  in- 
fected by  phylloxera,  should  be  first  disin- 
fected. The  vine-grower  can,  in  the  spring, 
after  the  second  year,  graft  these  seedlings, 
and  so  have  old  varieties  preserved  on  kind- 
red and  healthy  roots,  or  he  can  leave  them 
to  develop  to  the  time  of  fruiting,  which 
takes  place  on  the  fourth  or  fifth  year.  He 
can  then  select  those  he  wishes  to  retain  for 
the  sake  of  fruit,  and  graft  the  rest.  From 
strong  and  vigorous  productive  vines  he  can 
have  superior  grafting  material.  Or  he  may 
graft  the  young  plants  in  the  second  year, 
immediately  upon  removing  them  from  the 
nursery,  and  obtain  fruit  in  the  third  or 
fourth  year. 

This  method,  if  pursued,  would  in  a  gener- 
ation cause  the  complete  regeneration  of  vine- 
yards. The  reader  should  remember  that 
the  best  grapes  ^for  wine-making  are  not  such 
as  he  is  accustomed  to  see  in  California  fruit 
stalls.  The  best  wine  grapes  are  not  attrac- 
tive to  the  palate,  and  seldom  to  the  eye. 
Hence,  the  product  of  a  seedling  must  not  be 
judged  by  the  first  appearance  of  its  fruit. 

In  the  reports  of  the  French  Department 
of  Agriculture  for  July  of  this  year,  on  the 
subject  of  phylloxera,  I  find,  among  others, 
one  which  treats  in  part  of  seedlings,  as  ex- 
perimented with  in  another  district.  These 
reports  of  the  Department  contain  epitomized 


statements  from  all  the  different  sections. 
The  reporter  in  this  instance  refers  to  two 
classes  of  objectors — first,  those  who  say  that 
seedlings  of  European  vines  do  not  resist 
phylloxera  better  than  the  vines  from  which 
the  seeds  come;  second,  those  who  complain 
that  seedlings  are  slow  in  fructification.  The 
answer  to  the  first  is  that  all  seedlings  have 
not  the  same  vigor,  and  it  is  necessary  to 
select  the  strongest.  The  answer  to  the 
second  is  that  the  seedlings  may  be  used  to 
graft  upon,  and  may  be  obtained  cheaper  than 
American  vines. 

"However,"  he  says,  "a  vine,  two  years 
old  from  the  seed,  may,  by  the  English  graft, 
be  grafted  upon  in  the  Spring,  and  will  bear 
fruit  the  next  year,  just  as  vines  from  cut- 
tings. Indeed,  this  operation  of  grafting  in 
the  Spring,  which  follows  the  plantation  in 
place  of  young  seedlings  of  one  year,  is 
practiced  by  Mons.  Duclaux,  pepiuierist  at 
Draguignan,  with  almost  constant  success. 
As  to  the  resistance  of  the  seedlings  to  phyl- 
loxera, here  is  the  interesting  experiment, 
which  is  due  to  Doctor  Dugat,  of  Orange: 

"His  field  of  experiments,  surrounded  by 
vines  attacked  by  phylloxera,  was  divided 
into  four  parts  in  1872. 

".The  first,  planted  in  vines  of  the  district 
(cuttings),  perfectly  healthy. 

"The  second,  with  cuttings  of  wild  vines 
collected  on  tue  banks  of  the  Khone. 

"The  third  with  seedlings. 

"The  fourth  with  sarments  (cuttings  rooted 
before  separation  from  the  vine)  from  the 
hillsides  of  the  Hermitage. 

"In  1877,  the  first  portion  had  a  mortality  of 
1  plant  in  8;  the  second,  lini;  the  third,  1  in 
50;  the  fourth,  1  in  10. 

"The  victory  remains,  then,  after  six  years, 
to  the  seedlings,  which  show  a  mortality  of 
only  two  per  cent." 

It  is  perhaps  true  that  by  means  of  cut- 
tings from  European  vines  we  cannot  expect 
to  obtain  plants  thoroughly  acclimated  in 
California.  What  may  we  not  expect  by 
propagating  from  the  seed  which  European 
cuttings  bear  in  our  climate? 

I  have  suggested  the  idea  of  a  change  of 
seed  to  Mr.  Trimoulet,  who  is  now  anxious 
to  experiment  with  seeds  of  European  vines 
grown  in  California.  Our  climate  has  had 
good  effects  upon  the  eggs  of  silk  worms; 
perhaps  it  may  produce  a  constitutional  re- 
juvenation of  the  vine  through  the  seeds. 

IN   CONCLUSION. 

The  opinions  expressed  in  the  foregoing 
paragraphs  relatingto  the  phylloxera ,  I  have 
no  reason  to  change  now,  although  I  might 
easily  modify  them,  as  I  have  done  in  the 
first  part  of  this  article.  I  submit  them 
altogether  for  the  careful  study  of  our  viti- 


15 


culturists,  hoping  only  that  the  general  line 
of  the  argument  may  be  in  the  right  direc- 
tion. 

HOW   TO   SEPARATE    DEFECTIVE    SEEDS. 

Since  writing  the  foregoing  article,  I  have 
found  that  about  one-half  the  wild  vine  seeds, 
which  have  been  collected  for  me  are  "lights," 
or  dead.  These  may  be  separated  from  the 
sound  seeds  by  immersing  them  all  together 
in  water,  to  which  some  salt  has  been  added. 
The  "lights"  will  float  and  can  be  taken  off 
and  thrown  away.  The  sound  seeds  sink  to 
the  bottom.  I  have,  by  careful  count,  found 
that  there  is  an  average  of  four  thousand 
sound  seeds  to  the  pound;  hence  by  careful 
sowing  the  estimate  of  twenty  pounds  to  the 
acre  for  a  nursery  need  not  be  changed.  The 
"lights"  include  the  coffee-brown,  reddish 
and  yellowish  seeds,  having  less  distinctive 
peculiarities  among  the  sound  seeds  to  judge 
varieties  by.  CHAS.  A.  WETMORE. 


Professor  Hilgard  on  Propagation  of 
the  Wild   Vine. 


UNIVERSITY  or  CALIFORNIA,  i 
Feb.  23,  1880.  J 

EDITOR  MERCHANT:  I  have  read  with  great 
interest,  in  your  issue  of  20th  inst.,  the  able 
article  by  Mr.  C.  A.  Wetmore,  on  the  propa- 
gation of  the  vine,  and  the  question  of  ren- 
dering our  vineyards  proof  against  the  attacks 
of  the  phylloxera.  Mr.  Wetmore  grapples 
with  the  problem  from  a  point  of  view  which 
has  been  too  much  neglected  in  the  eager 
search  for  a  remedy  of  the  allopathic  sort, 
that  would  secure  the  prize  offered  by  the 
French  Government;  while  the  study  of  the 
possible  causes  of  the  exemption  of  certain 
kinds,  has  been  attempted  only  by  the  least 
promising  line  of  approach — the  microscope. 

Of  the  two  main  points  upon  which  Mr. 
Wetmore  bases  his  recommendations,  one, 
viz:  the  resistance  of  wild  vines,  and  of  va- 
rieties not  far  removed  from  them,  is  incon- 
testable, and  is  the  cornerstone  of  the  plan 
for  the  regeneration  of  the  devastated  vine- 
yards of  France,  now  being  rapidly  put  into 
practice  in  that  country.  His  identification 
of  the  "Zinfandels"  as  essentially  "sylvan" 
varieties,  is  most  interesting  and  important. 
Although  the  grape  variety  known  by  that 
name^  in  California  is  not  proof  against  the 
attacks  of  the  parasite,  it  is  certainly  not  as 
susceptible  as  the  Mission  and  Muscat;  more- 
over, it  may  itself  be  not  altogether  a  pure, 
uiihybridized  stock. 

However  this  may  be,  the  well-known  ten- 
dency of  seedlings  to  revert  toward  the  orig- 
inal wild  stock,  would  alone  serve  as  a  strong 


recommendation  for  their  use  in  the  propaga- 
tion of  vines  intended  to  be  grafted  on  other 
roots.  The  additional  point  made  by  Mr. 
W.,  that  seedlings  as  a  rule  have  stronger 
and  healthier  roots  than  cuttings,  and  will 
on  that  account  alone  offer  greater  resistance 
to  attacks  of  all  kinds,  involves  a  principle 
that  a  priori  will  seem  reasonable  to  every 
one  familiar  with  the  business  of  propagation 
of  woody  plants  by  the  several  possible 
modes. 

When,  in  addition,  we  consider  the  possi- 
bility that  among  cultivated  seedlings  of  the 
California  vine,  we  are  quite  as  likely  to  dis- 
cover choice  wine  grafts  as  among  those  from 
which  the  Norton,  Taylor  and  Isabella  were 
selected,  th*e  importance  of  testing  thoroughly 
the  behavior  of  the  native  vine  of  California 
under  cultivation,  becomes  obvious,  and  I 
shall  consider  these  experiments,  now  inaug- 
urated with  seed  kindly  supplied  by  Mr.  Wet- 
more,  as  among  the  most  important  on  our 
experimental  grounds.  Unfortunately,  we 
are  unable  to  fruit  any  vine  at  Berkeley  in 
the  open  air;  hence  the  question  of  the  qual- 
ity of  fruit  produced  must  be  tested  else- 
where, by  careful  and  reliable  viticulturists 
to  whom  the  seedlings  will  ultimately  be  dis- 
tributed. 

I  have  heretofore  repeatedly  urged  upon 
the  afflicted  wine  growers  of  the  Sonoma  Val- 
ley, the  importance  of  using  the  native  vine 
as  grafting  stock  for  the  vineyards  of  the  fu- 
ture. I  can  but  emphasize  that  recommenda- 
tion at  this  time,  with  the  hope  that  all  who 
can  will  aid  in  carrying  out  in  the  several 
sections  of  the  State,  the  important  experi- 
ments suggested  by  Mr.  Wetmore. 

E.  W.  HILGARD. 


Arpad  Haraszthy  on  the  Wild  Vine, 


SAN  FRANCISCO,  March  3,  1880. 
CHAS.  A.  WETMORE,  ESQ. — Dear  Sir:  I 
have  read  with  great  interest  an  article  on 
the  vine  emanating  from  you,  and  published 
in  the  San  Francisco  MERCHANT  on  the  20th 
of  February,  with  a  very  well  executed  plate 
illustrating  the  differences  in  growth  between 
seedlings  and  cuttings,  and  also  showing  a 
splendid  cut  of  the  seedling  of  a  wild  vine 
which  for  so  long  a  time  hung  up  in  my 
office.  The  matter  of  seedlings,  and  es- 
pecially of  seedlings  of  wild  vines,  in  view 
of  the  phyollxera,  is  one  of  the  greatest  im- 
portance as  well  as  interest  to  all  interested  in 
viticulture.  And  from  our  present  knowledge, 
based  upon  the  unhappy  experiences  of  our 
French  neighbors  in  their  effort  to  exterminate 
or  even  restrict  the  ravages  of  this  insect,  it 
would  seem  that  in  view  of  the  high  cost  of 


16 


remedies  and  preventatives,  there  is  but  one 
feasible,  practical  method  left  to  secure 
ourselves  against  the  ravages  of  the  phyllox- 
era, and  that  is  by  the  planting  of  seedlings 
from  the  wild  grape.  It  is  therefore, 
of  the  utmost  interest  that  as  many  experi- 
ments be  made  in  this  direction  as  possible 
throughout  the  State,  and  more  especially  in 
Sonoma  valley,  where  the  phylloxera  is  now 
carrying  on  its  ravages,  quietly  and  slowly, 
but  surely.  And  I  consider  that  you  have 
accomplished  a  great  good,  and  one  that  will 
last,  in  the  successful  efforts  you  have  made 
to  gather  seeds  of  our  wild  vine  for  public 
distribution.  As  far  as  I  am  concerned  I 
confess  to  having  become  an  entire  convert 
to  the  value  of  seedlings  over  that  of  cut- 
tings in  the  planting  of  new  vineyards,  and 
especially  in  phylloxera  infected  districts. 
And  everything  tends  to  demonstrate  that 
our  wild  vine  is  not  injured  by  the  phylloxera. 
In  the  valley  of  Sonoma,  as  we  together  had 
occasion  to  observe  in  numerous  instances 
last  Fall,  the  wild  vine  grows  in  the  utmost 
luxuriance  right  alongside  of  the  in- 
fected cultivated  varieties,  not  only  along 
the  creeks,  but  also  along  the  fences, 
almost  entwining  its  branches  with  those 
of  its  cultivated  and  dying  neighbors. 
Though  this,  as  you  mentioned  in  your 
article  on  the  propagation  of  the  vine, 
may  not  be  positive  proof  against  the 
ravages  of  the  phylloxera,  still  it  has  a 
strong  leaning  that  way.  But  outside  of  the 
chances  of  discovering  a  vine  that  may  resist 
this  terrible  scourge,  through  propagation 
from  the  seeds  of  the  wild  vine,  there  is  a 
very  great  likelihood  of  discovering  new  and 
valuable  qualities  for  wine-making.  And 
from  the  three  samples  of  red  wine  you  have 
submitted  to  me,  made  from  the  grapes  of 
the  wild  vine,  by  Mr.  C.  Mattier,  I  am  thor- 
oughly convinced  that  this  will  be  accom- 
plished as  soon  as  the  seeds  you  have  gratu- 
itously distributed  will  bring  forth  their 
product.  Of  the  three  samples  you  sub- 
mitted to  me,  two  of  them,  the  red  and  the 
dark  brown  red,  have  an  excellent  body,  a 
good  clear  astringence,  a  very  mild  sub- 
acid  and  a  strongly  marked  port  taste.  I  think 
if  after  cultivation  they  retain  these  quali- 
ties, they  will  become  valuable  for  the  pro- 
duction of  native  port  and  sherry  wines. 
But  the  gem  of  the  three  was  the  last — the 
beautiful  rich  violet,  purple  colored  sample. 
This  was  one  of  the  very  prettiest  clarets  I 
have  ever  tasted,  of  its  age,  in  any  country.  It 
had  a  remarkable  resemblance  to  the  new, 
pure  red  wines  of  the  Medoc  at  a  similar 
age  as  I  remember  them.  Like  them  it  had 
a  fine  free  and  subacid  flavor,  the  first  giving 
a  freshness  to  their  taste,  and  the  latter  a 


lasting  sensation — the  body  just  light  enough 
— a  fine  strong  but  agreeable  astringency 
which  always  assures  great  keeping  and  good 
traveling  qualities.  The  color  was  identical, 
only  several  tones  deeper.  And  like  the 
good  medoc  wines  when  new,  the  flavor  was 
almost  neutral.  There  appeared  after  care- 
ful tasting  but  one  difference,  and  that  was 
the  faintest  suspicion  of  a  porty  taste,  which  I 
believe  would  not  exist  after  the  vine  is  culti- 
vated, and  which  I  attribute  entirely  to  the 
great  proportion  which  the  seeds  occupied  in 
the  fermenting  mass.  I  think  this  vine  will 
in  the  future  be  placed  side  by  side  with  the 
noble  Zinfandel  as  a  claret  grape,  and  think 
you  have  done  California  an  inestimable  ser- 
vice in  its  discovery. 

As  to  grafting  upon  the  wild  vine  or  its 
seedlings,  I  need  not  say  anything  further  on 
that  head.  I  advocated  that  plan  in  an  arti- 
cle published  in  the  Overland  Monthly  in 
1871-1872,  with  the  purpose  of  securing  a 
greater  production  and  still  retaining  the 
quality  desired. 

In  conclusion  let  me  say  that  I  will  en- 
deavor in  every  manner  in  my  power  tb  assist 
you  in  having  experiments  made  in  this 
direction. 

Yours  very  truly, 

ABPAD  HAKASZTHY, 
President  State  Vinicultural  Society. 

The  Wild  Vine. 


We  hardly  need  call  attention  to  the  mag- 
nificent lithograph  which  we  present  with 
this  week's  MERCHANT  to  our  subscribers. 
The  exhaustive  article  by  Charles  A.  Wet- 
more,  Esq.,  on  the  propagation  of  the  vine, 
which  accompanies  it,  is  the  most  valuable 
contribution  this  gentleman  has  yet  made  to 
the  literature  of  viticulture  in  the  United 
States,  and  will  be  immensely  appreciated  in 
France,  where  hundreds  of  costly  volumes 
have  been  published  on  the  vine.  It  is  the 
first  extended  notice  or  illustration  of  the 
wild  vine  of  California  that  has  been  pub- 
lished in  any  country.  The  chapter  on  the 
Zinfandel,  now  the  most  popular  grape  in 
California,  is  entirely  new.  It  appears  that 
our  Zinfandel  is  of  comparatively  recent  wild 
origin.  The  tradition  is  that  it  wa,s  first  ob- 
tained from  the  seed  of  a  wild  grape  found  in 
the  woods  of  Central  Europe.  Mr.  Wetmore 
has  gathered  at  great  expense  a  quantity  of 
seed  of  the  wild  vine  of  California  and  placed 
some  of  it  in  our  hands,  in  half  and  one 
pound  packages,  for  distribution.  On  appli- 
cation to  this  office  a  package  will  be  sent 
free  by  express  to  any  address,  express 
charges  collectable  on  delivery.  Any  farmer 
in  any  part  of  the  State  who  will  send  for  a 


17 


package  and  distribute  a  few  seeds  among  his 
neighbors  for  planting,  will  do  himself  and 
his  section  of  the  country  a  great  benefit. 
Subscribers  should  preserve  the  plate,  as  it 
will  prove  of  great  value  to  persons  who  are 
cultivating  vines  and  have  no  access  to  more 
pretentious  works.  For  the  convenience  of 
those  who  desire  to  frame  one,  we  have  had 
a  number  struck  off  on  superior  paper.  Cop- 
ies of  the  latter  will  be  sent  by  mail,  postage 
paid,  securely  packed  in  a  pasteboard  cone, 
to  any  address,  on  receipt  of  fifty  cents  in 
postage  stamps. 


The  Physical  and  Moral  Influence  of 
the  Vine. 

[From  the  Californian.] 

The  progress  of  viniculture  in  California 
invites  us  to  consider  two  important  ques- 
tions: What  are  to  be  its  effects  upon  indus- 
try and  commerce?  What  are  to  be  its 
influences  upon  our  people? 

We  must  first  estimate  the  extent  to  which 
this  industry  may  be  profitably  developed 
before  we  can  speculate  upon  its  social  re- 
sults. That  it  will  be  developed  to  a  great 
extent,  if  profitable,  we  have  no  reason  to 
doubt. 

Fortunately,  we  do  not  need  to  question 
the  practicability  of  producing  grapes  abun- 
dantly, and  as  cheaply  as  in  any  country  that 
might  become  our  rival  for  the  new  markets 
which  we  may  desire  to  supply.  The  vine 
flourishes  in  all  parts  of  our  State.  Its  fruit 
matures  to  perfection  throughout  an  extent 
of  country  from  San  Diego  on  the  south  to 
Shasta  on  the  north,  and  from  the  Coast 
Kange  to  the  Sierra  Nevada.  The  possibili- 
ties of  production  are  almost  incalculable. 
It  has  been  common  to  estimate  our  viticul- 
tural  area,  in  rough  figures,  as  being  equal  to 
that  of  France,  where  about  six  million  acres 
have  been  cultivated.  This  guess,  however, 
is  based  only  upon  rough  estimates  of  choice 
vineyard  lands.  If,  however,  the  demand  for 
the  culture  of  the  vine  should  be  increased  in 
this  State  relatively  in  proportion  to  the  de- 
mand in  France, where  lands  are  pressed  into 
this  service  without  regard  to  their  especial 
fitness  for  it,  we  could  easily  select  thirty  mil- 
lion acres  which  would  produce  better  aver- 
age crops  than  are  produced  in  France. 
Fiance  during  the  decade  of  1868-77  produced 
an  average  annual  crop  of  wine  amounting  to 
one  billion  five  hundred  million  gallons.  If  we 
had  sufficient  population  and  demands  for 
wine,  we  might  produce,  before  exhausting 
our  soils,  eight  or  ten  billion  gallons  of  wine 
annually. 

It  is  impossible  to  estimate  the  probable 


consumption  of  wine  of  the  whole  world  in 
the  future.  Consumption  is  not  now  the 
measure  of  probable  demand;  it  measures 
only  present  production,  which  is  not  equal 
to  the  demands  of  consumers.  The  culture 
of  the  vine  is  limited  to  certain  countries, 
whose  capacity  in  this  direction  appears  to  be, 
in  the  Old  World,  practically  tested  in  the 
fullest  degree.  We  cannot  tell  how  much 
greater  the  consumption  might  become  if 
there  were  a  largely  increased  production. 
The  average  annual  production  of  wine  in 
Europe  was  estimated  a  few  years  ago  as  fol- 
lows: 

Countries.  American  Wine  Gallons. 

France 1,505,000,000 

Italy , 810,650,000 

Austro-Hungary 575,300,000 

Spain 523,000,000 

Germany 156,900,000 

Portugal 130,750,000 

Kussia  and  Turkey 52,300,000 

Greece  and  Cyprus 26,150,000 

Eoumania : 15,690,000 

Switzerland  .  0 10,460,000 


Total 3,836,200,000 

Only  a  comparatively  small  portion  of  this 
product  is  exported  to  countries  not  produ- 
cing wine.  Wine  producers  appear  to  de- 
velop their  markets  principally  among  their 
immediate  neighbors.  The  rapidity  with 
which  the  home  markets  increase  in  consum- 
ing power  indicates,  possibly,  the  rapidity 
with  which  wine  supplants  all  other  bever- 
ages, wherever  it  becomes  abundant  and 
eheap. 

There  may  be  several  reasons  for  the  very 
small  ratio  that  the  increase  in  exportation 
bears  to  the  increase  in  home  consumption. 
The  expense  of  transportation  must  be  con- 
sidered; but  this  does  not  appear  to  be  the 
controlling  obstacle  to  exportation.  Nations 
generally  prefer  some  national  beverage 
which  is  produced  at  home.  Wine  appears  to 
be  the  most  popular,  where  it  can  be  obtained 
in  sufficient  quantities  to  satisfy  popular  de- 
mands. The  home  market,  therefore,  mo- 
nopolizes its  use  in  a  great  degree,  and 
wherever  the  home  demand  equals  the  sup- 
ply, there  is  little  inducement  toward  edu- 
cating popular  tastes  in  foreign  lands.  Wine 
which  is  ordinaire  at  home,  and  a  staple  arti- 
cle of  diet,  is  suffered  to  remain  an  article  of 
luxury  abroad.  There  is  another  very  impor- 
tant obstacle  to  an  increased  exportation  — 
the  non-transportability  of  the  greater  por- 
tion of  European  wines.  Only  a  few  of  the 
products  of  France,  Spain,  Portugal  and 
Italy  can  be  transported,  through  changes  of 


18 


temperature  and  varying  climates,  without 
fortification  with  alcohol. 

It  is  impossible  to  determine,  even  ap- 
proximately, to  what  extent  France  might 
increase  her  foreign  markets  for  wine,  if  she 
produced  more  and  consumed  less;  but  the 
rapidity  with  which  cheap  table  wines  become 
popular  in  new  countries,  whenever  the  sup- 
ply is  forced  upon  them  in  an  abundant 
manner,  goes  to  show  that  if  there  were 
more  wine  there  would  be  more  consumers. 
To  be  popular  in  everyday  use,  it  must  cease 
to  be  an  exceptional  luxury,  which  can  hap- 
pen only  when  enough  is  furnished  to  effect- 
ually supplant  other  beverages.  The  increased 
consumption  of  beer  in  America-  illustrates 
this  principle.  Popular  things  must  be  plen- 
tiful. 

During  the,  decade  1829-38,  France  pro- 
duced an  average  wine  crop  annually  of 
890,000,300  gallons.  This  was  increased  in 
forty  years  to  1,505,000,000  gallons,  or  nearly 
doubled  in  quantity.  -  The  increase  in  home 
consumption  was  enormous — equal  to  740,- 
000,000  gallons,  or  at  the  rate  of  18,500,000 
gallons  increase  for  each  successive  year. 
Exportations  increased  from  33,000,000  gal- 
lons to  68,000,000  gallons,  or  at  the  rate  of 
less  than  1,000,000  gallons  for  each  succes- 
sive year.  Meanwhile,  the  importations  have 
increased  from  56,800  to  40,000,000  gallons; 
also,  the  quantity  distilled  and  converted  into 
vinegar  decreased  to  an  extent  two  and  a  half 
times  greater  than  the  increase  of  exporta- 
tions.  The  price  of  wine  also  increased 
steadily.  These  facts  show  how  rapidly  wine 
may  grow  in  favor  as  a  popular  beverage. 
The  demands  of  foreign  markets  have  been 
the  least  to  cause  the  vast  progress  of  French 
viniculture.  The  home  demand  has  really 
been  greater  than  the  supply,  and  we  have, 
therefore,  no  facts  to  indicate  to  what  extent 
foreign  markets  for  wine  might  have  been 
developed  if  the  supply  had  been  sufficiently 
abundant. 

Spain  can  only,  with  few  exceptions,  send 
her  natural  light  wines  toward  the  north. 
They  find  a  market  during  the  winter  in 
Paris  and  other  parts  of  France.  The  alco- 
holized wines  of  Spain  and  Portugal  are  too 
spirituous  ever  to  become  popular  beverages 
for  daily  use,  and  we  cannot,  therefore,  de- 
duce anything  from  the  commerce  in  them  to 
show  the  possible  limit  of  the  exportation  of 
natural  table  wines.  We  observe,  however, 
that  whenever  pure  natural  wine  is  plentiful 
it  becomes  popular,  and  the  consumption 
generally  equals  the  supply.  We  have  seen 
the  supply  becoming  abundant  in  California, 
and  at  the  same  time  consumption  has  in- 
creased in  a  few  years,  so  that  now  more 
wine  -is  consumed  here  by  a  population  of 


less  than  a  million  than  is  imported  into  the 
whole  United  States  from  France.  The 
abundant  supply  is  the  educator. 

From  a  study  of  all  the  facts  bearing  on 
this  subject,  it  seems  probable  that  if  Cali- 
fornia should  increase  her  production  to 
1,000,000,000  gallons  annually,  markets 
would  open  themselves  as  fast  as  her  abun- 
dance was  ready  to  supply  them.  California 
wines  have  a  superior  commercial  value. 
They  are  transportable  into  and  through  all 
climates,  without  requiring  adulteration  with 
alcohol.  We  can,  therefore,  produce  the 
merchandise  in  abundance  and  find  markets 
for  it.  This  view  of  our  vinicultural  indus- 
try is  flattering  to  our  ideas  of  future  impor- 
tance and  encouraging  to  the  farmer.  Our 
vineyards  may  be  increased  one  hundred  fold 
at  least  with  safety,  provided  reasonable 
methods  of  culture  be  pursued,  and  the  re- 
quisite skill  in  wine  making  acquired. 

We  have,  however,  taken  no  note  of  the 
vines  that  will  be  required  by  raisin  produ- 
cers. More  brandy  would  be  distilled  iii 
France,  if  there  were  wine  to  spare.  We  can 
always  have  wine  to  spare  if  we  cultivate  suf- 
ficiently, because  we  have  an  abundance  of 
suitable  land.  The  time  may  possibly  come 
when  syrup  made  from  grape  juice  will  be  a 
popular  article  of  diet.  These  things  prom- 
ise increase  to  the  vineyards.  Kapid  trans- 
portation promises  a  great  market  among  our 
Eastern  tellow  citizens  for  fresh  grapes. 
Surely  there  is  no  danger  of  over-production. 
Our  people  will  soon  realize  this,  and  the 
rush  of  the  Argonauts  of  1849  will  be 
distanced  by  the  rush  to  the  shrine  of  the 
wine  god  in  the  near  future. 

The  results  which  this  agricultural  devel- 
opment will  show  in  our  industrial  and  com- 
mercial life  will  be  amazing.  The  gold  of  the 
Sierra  did  not  build  cities  as  surely  as  will 
the  vines  of  its  foothills.  One  million  fami- 
lies, as  proprietors  of  vineyards,  will  produce 
one  billion  gallons  of  wine.  Another  million 
families  will  obtain  support  in  the  industries 
and  mercantile  pursuits  which  will  rest  on 
this  production.  Fleets  of  ships  will  come 
and  go,  and  add  spirit  to  the  busy  scene.  Viti- 
culture will  increase  the  population  of  the 
cities  around  the  Golden  Gate  one  million 
souls.  Most  notable  will  be  the  effect  upon 
the  country  towns.  The  vine  makes  homes 
in  the  country  attractive,  and  develops 
village  growth.  Already  we  see  this  tendency 
in  our  new  State.  Los  Angeles,  San  Gabriel, 
Anaheim,  Sonoma,  St.  Helena,  Mission  San 
Jose — how  beautifully  they  grow!  Village 
life  is  the  secret  of  French  prosperity.  The 
country  is  all  utilized  and  labor  economized. 
The  vine  and  industry  intertwine  wherever 
the  people  are  industrious.  The  one  nour- 


19 


ishes  and  supports  the  other,  and  makes  life 
tolerable  both  to  the  peasant  and  to  the  fac- 
tory hand.  Our  villagers  will  tend  vines,  pick 
and  crush  grapes,  nurse  wines;  and  among 
them  there  will  live  coopers,  wagoners, 
kitchen  gardeners,  dairymen,  silk  spinners 
and  the  pressers  of  the  sacred  olive  oil. 
Shepherds  and  herdsmen  will  come  down 
from  the  hilltops  to  sleep  in  vineclad  cot- 
tages. We  know  what  viticulture  has  done 
elsewhere;  we  can  predict  what  it  will  do 
here. 

The  Department  of  the  Gironde  in  France 
affords  ample  proof  for  the  assertion  that 
"the  vine  is  the  friend  of  man."  That  de- 
partment, in  which  the  trade  of  Bordeaux 
springs  to  life,  contains  2,520,000  acres,  of 
which  about  one-half  is  wooded,  desert  or 
swamp.  The  greater  portion  of  the  arable 
iaiid  is  covered  with  vines.  The  area  of  vine- 
yards was  computed  in  1873  at  471,000  acres. 
The  population  in  1876  was  735,242.  Of 
this  Bordeaux  had  215,000.  Viticulture  is  its 
chief  support.  What  it  has  done  for  this  sec- 
tion of  France,  it  can  and  will  do  for  the 
counties  of  Napa  and  Sonoma  in  California. 
Those  two  counties  will  yet  sustain  as  much 
population  as  the  entire  State  does  now. 
Vallejo  may  yet  have  a  population  of  two 
hundred  thousand.  Edouard  Feret,  in  his 
Statistique  Generate,  says:  "The  development 
of  population  in  a  great  number  of  rural  com- 
munes of  our  department  (the  Gironde) 
seems  everywhere  to  coincide,  or  rather  to  be 
the  consequence  of,  the  progress  of  viticul- 
ture, which  forms,  without  doubt,  the  basis 
of  our  public  fortune."  Equal  marvels  of 
the  sustaining  power  of  the  vine  are  to  be 
seen  in  other  parts  of  France;  but  in  the  Bor- 
deaux district  they  are  less  complicated  with 
other  industrial  forces  than  elsewhere.  Cette, 
on  the  Mediterranean,  has  grown  from  10,000 
to  40,000  inhabitants  during  the  last  twenty- 
five  years,  its  support  being  chiefly  the  prep- 
aration of  imitation  wines.  The  Bordeaux 
district  (the  Gironde)  produces  about  80,- 
000,000  gallons  of  wine  annually.  This  pro- 
duct will  be  equaled  in  California  before 
many  years  have  passed  away.  This  growth, 
by  its  own  vitalizing  force,  will  support 
metropolitan  life  equal  to  that  of  Bordeaux. 
People  do  not  like  to  leave  their  "vine  and 
fig  tree."  No  other  homes  are  more  charm- 
ing than  their  own.  Viticulture  and  vinicul- 
ture establish  communities  and  check  rovers. 
The  vineyardist  not  only  loves  his  occupation, 
but  he  becomes  enthusiastic  in  it.  He  is  the 
truest  patriot  who  loves  his  home  life  most. 
The  vine  is  therefore  not  only  "the  friend  of 
man,"  but  it  also  makes  him  more  loyal  to 
his  country.  It  exerts  a  material  influence 
upon  the  State,  and  leads  to  industry.  Viti- 


culture will  inspire  men  with  the  spirit  of 
industry  and  bless  them  with  contentment; 
it  will  check  the  feverish  spirit  of  speculation 
and  gambling. 

And  here  we  begin  to  think  of  the  moral, 
as  well  as  the  material,  influence  of  the  vine 
upon  our  growing  population .  Those  directly 
engaged  in  this  industry,  whether  as  farmers, 
wine  makers,  raisin  dryers,  brokers,  coopers 
or  merchants,  will  feel  securely  settled  in 
permanent  occupations.  The  vine  grower 
will  not  be  as  unsettled  in  mind  as  the  potato 
grower;  his  crops  have  world- wide  markets, 
and  may  rest,  if  converted  into  wine  vinegar, 
brandy  or  raisins,  until  markets  are  ready  for 
them.  This  condition  of  industry  must 
necessarily  exert  a  powerful  influence  upon 
his  character  and  disposition.  Security  will 
make  him  contented  and  genial.  His  occu- 
pation is  such  that  he  becomes  satisfied  with 
a  comparatively  small  farm,  and  surrounds 
himself  with  agricultural  laborers,  whose 
lives  are  not  dependent  upon  precarious 
harvest  demands.  The  work  about  vineyards 
and  wine  cellars  requires  trained  men;  raw 
recruits  from  intelligence  offices  or  the  Indian 
reservations  will  not  do  for  the  vineyard,  as 
they  may  for  the  dreary  wheat  farms.  Coun- 
try life,  under  the  influence  of  viticulture, 
becomes  compact;  villages  spring  into  exist- 
ence and  society  organizes.  The  p*-oprietor 
becomes  proud  of  his  success,  and  looks  upon 
his  products  with  the  sensitive  affection  of 
the  artist.  Each  vine  growing  section  swears 
by  i^s  own  wine.  In  France  the  Bordelais 
never  tires  of  singing  the  praises  of  his  own 
wine,  and  stoutly  maintains  that  his  is  the 
best  and  that  all  others  are  trash.  He  is 
content  with  his  lot.  The  Maconais  with 
equal  zeal  rejoices  in  his  warm  and  generous 
wine,  and  denounces  the  Bordelais  claret  as 
cold  and  rough.  So,  too,  with  vignerons  of 
the  Landes,  of  Languedoc  and  of  the  Marne. 
And  so,  too,  does  the  Spaniard  boast  of  his 
vino  del  pals.  The  German  thinks  that  he 
only  knows  how  to  nurse  wine;  that  the 
Frenchman  knows  how  to  "doctor"  it.  The 
Hungarian  looks  upon  his  wine  and  his 
country  as  inseparable;  treason  to  one  is 
treason  to  the  other.  So  proud  is  he  of  his 
product  that  he  er  nobles  those  who  obtain 
honor  for  it  in  foreign  lands. 

Not  many  years  ago,  the  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce of  Vienna  encouraged  Mr.  Max  Greger 
to  endeavor  to  make  known  in  England  Hun- 
garian wines,  which  in  many  respects  re- 
semble those  of  California.  He  labored  with 
zeal  to  do  this,  attacking  old  prejudices  in 
London  with  courage  and  persistence,  and 
succeeded  finally  in  breaking  down  the 
monopoly  of  public  favor  enjoyed  by  the 
trade  in  port,  sherry  and  French  claret.  He 


20 


began  ninth  on  the  list  of  large  importers  into 
England  and  last  year  stood  the  second.  Hun- 
garian pride  was  touched  and  gratified.  This 
wine  merchant  was  considered  as  a  great 
patriot.  He  was  honored  with  the  order  of  the 
"Golden  Cross  of  Merit  with  the  Crown." 
In  1875,  the  Emperor  of  Austria  conferred 
upon  him  the  title  of  "Knight  of  the  Imperial 
Order  of  Franz  Josef."  And  still  further,  he 
was  raised  to  the  nobility,  with  rank  to  de- 
scend to  his  children.  The  Crown  Prince  of 
Austria,  in  1878,  when  visiting  England, 
found  among  the  notable  places  he  was  in- 
structed to  visit,  the  cellars  of  Mr.  Max  Gre- 
ger,  which  he  inspected  in  a  public  manner 
most  gratifying  to  his  countrymen. 

No  other  industry  begets  so  much  local  and 
national  pride.  It  inspires  laudable  ambi- 
tion, rather  than  avarice.  We  have  seen 
much  of  this  industry  among  the  pioneers  in 
our  own  State.  Agoston  Haraszthy  began  to 
think  of  it,  and  the  more  he  thought  the 
more  did  his  self-interest  sink  out  of  sight  in 
the  grand  idea  to  be  the  promoter  of  vinicul- 
ture. He  traveled  throughout  Europe,  nom- 
inally as  a  StateCommissioner  from  California 
but  in  fact  at  his  own  expense,  and  gathered 
not  only  information  but  thousands  of  vines 
of  many  hundred  varieties,  wiiich  he  culti- 
vated at  Sonoma,  and  upon  the  success  of 
which  has  been  based  the  many  experiments 
which  have  so  successfully  proved  the  value 
of  our  new  industry.  Among  his  greatest 
successes  was  the  culture  of  the  Zinfandel,  a 
Hungarian  grape  heretofore  little  known  in 
viniculture,  but  which  is  destined  to  lift  Cali- 
fornia wine  cellars  into  successful  rivalry 
with  the  boasted  cellars  of  Bordeaux.  His 
son,  Arpad  Haraszthy,  was  educated  to  pur- 
sue this  work.  The  father  realized  how  much 
there  was  to  learn;  his  son  caught  the  spirit 
and  devoted  several  years  to  study  in  the 
Civil  Polytechnic  School  at  Paris,  to  appren- 
ticeship in  the  champagne  district,  and  to 
practical  work  in  the  vineyards  and  cellars  of 
Bordeaux.  Our  pioneer  vineyardists  risked 
everything,  and  struggled  for  years  against 
shy  capital,  creditors  and  a  prejudiced  public; 
very  few  of  them  lost  their  faith,  even  when 
oppressed  by  disaster  and  debt.  The  vine  is 
a  spring  of  hope,  promising  gladness.  Now 
the  battle  has  been  won  against  capital, 
against  inexperience  and  the  mistakes  of 
judgment  and  against  popular  prejudice.  It 
is  pleasant  to  know  that  of  the  pioneers  in 
this  industry  fewer  have  failed,  notwithstand- 
ing their  inexperience  and  the  hazards  ot  ex- 
perimenting, than  are  recorded  in  the  history 
of  other  efforts  to  make  this  State  habitable. 
Such  vitality  is  the  promise  of  grand  successes 
in  the  not  distant  future. 

Now,  as  to   the  consequences.     California 


is  becoming  a  community  of  wine  drinkers. 
This  means  a  great  deal.  We  can  foresee 
the  time  when  pure,  natural  light  wines  will 
become  a  part  of  the  daily  food  of  the  major- 
ity of  our  people.  How  will  this  affect  their 
social  dispositions  and  their  habits  ?  Care- 
fully prepared  statistics  show  that  the  dispo- 
sition toward  alcoholic  excesses,  and  the 
dyspeptic  predisposition  to  dipsomania,  are 
scarcely  appreciable  in  places  where  pure 
natural  wine — particularly  red  wine,  of  the 
claret  or  Burgundy  types  are  substituted  as 
popular  beverages  for  other  stimulants. 
Dyspepsia  and  liver  troubles  are  scarcely 
known  among  regular  wine  drinkers,  while 
they  are  common  even  among  the  most  care- 
ful teetotalers.  Where  wine  is  produced,  the 
people  know  enough  to  avoid  alcoholic  com- 
pounds, such  as  port  and  sherry,  as  prepared 
for  foreign  markets.  Pure  wine  does  not  in- 
clude port  and  sherry,  as  known  to  us,  for 
they  contain  an  addition  of  distilled  spir- 
its. Old  fashioned  English  and  American 
physicians  prescribe  port  and  sherry;  a 
French  physician  knows  better;  he  pres- 
cribes a  ripened,  pure,  dry  claret,  as  a  tonic 
beverage  and  regulator  of  the  digestive  and 
assimilating  organs.  France  manufactures 
great  quantities  of  ports  and  sherries,  but 
she  refuses  to  drink  them.  Our  people, 
with  an  abundance  of  pure  table  wine,  will 
reject  heavy  beer,  whisky,  bar-room  and  club 
tippling,  and  all  the  abominations  of  com- 
pounded and  alcoholized  wines.  A  proper, 
well-fermented  wine,  used  habitually  as  an 
accompaniment  of  meals,  rapidly  exhausts 
the  common  thirst  for  a  stimulant,  which  is 
now  the  cause  of  frequent  tippling.  The 
"pint"  of  pure  wine  is  grape-juice,  in  which 
its  sugar  has  been  converted  into  fermented, 
not  distilled,  spirit,  and  in  which  certain 
etherial  parts  become  ripened  into  natural 
bouquets  and  aromas,  which  bring  quiet  to 
restless  -nerves  and  content  to  the  mind.  It 
contains  also  the  natural  acids  of  the  fruit. 
The  wine  drinker,  therefore,  eats  fruit  regu- 
larly at  his  meals,  and  has  no  trouble  with 
his  stomach  and  his  liver.  The  wine  brings 
him  health,  and  the  world  looks  bright  to 
him,  because  he  is  not  "bilious."  The  revo- 
lutionists of  France  are  not  the  wine  drink- 
ers; it  is  absinthe,  beet-root  spirits,  and 
wretched  adulterations,  that  give  life  to  the 
restless,  complaining,  and  brutal  commune. 
A  fruit  diet,  such  as  wine  drinkers  reason- 
ably and  regularly  indulge  in,  cures  dyspep- 
sia and  a  bilious  temper.  They  need  little 
fresh  fruit;  they  take  it  bottled,  as  some  take 
it  canned. 

The  habit  of  wine  drinking  at  meals,  be- 
sides conducing  to  a  general  healthful  action 
of  the  digestive  and  assimilating  organs  of 


21 


life,  and  producing  a  cheerful  temper,  pro- 
motes many  social  reforms.  After  hard  la- 
bor, man's  nature  seeks  relaxation,  restora- 
tion from  exhaustion,  and  a  pleasurable 
reward.  It  is  useless  to  moralize  about  it, 
unless  we  recognize  this  want  of  his  system. 
We  have  two  antagonistic  schools  of  moral- 
ists who  treat  upon  the  subject  of  intemper- 
ance. Intemperance  results  simply  from 
illtimed,  excessive,  careless,  unreasonable,  or 
compulsory  habits  of  dieting.  What  one 
drinks  is  part  of  his  diet.  There  are  those 
whose  docrine  is,  that  man  should  obtain 
the  least  possible  physical  enjoyment  from 
the  greatest  possible  exertion.  Others  think 
that  the  greatest  possible  resonable  and 
sane  enjoyment  should  be  the  reward  of 
labor.  The  latter  do  not  affect  to  consider 
physical  enjoyment  as  degrading;  they  do 
not  think  it  beneath  their  dignity  to  discuss 
what  they  eat  and  drink,  as  critics;  they  re- 
joice in  an  invention  which  causes  twenty- 
five  cents  to  produce  a  more  agreeable  sen- 
sation to  the  palate  and  a  greater  comfort  in 
digestion.  The  true  cook  is  an  inventor  who 
endeavors,  not  to  procure  the  greatest  amount 
of  enjoyment  at  unlimited  cost,  but  the 
greatest  from  a  given  and  limited  expendi- 
ture. He  is  an  eclectic;  he  rejects  woody 
radishes,  rank  water-cress,  and  heavy  wines, 
and  selects  young  and  tender  esculents,  and 
dry  tonic  wines,  with  bouquets  that  make 
the  lips  smack  before  they  touch  the  glass. 

Wine  is  a  civilizer  in  the  family.  It  makes 
the  dinner  eventful,  and  prolongs  its  period 
of  enjoyment.  It  brings  man  and  wife  into 
full  sympathy,  and  lets  the  woman  into  the 
man's  most  entertaining  moods.  He  does  not 
save  his  wit  and  smiles  for  the  bar-room  and 
club.  It  brings  a  sense  of  satisfaction,  peace 
and  comfort,  and  invites  to  repose,  and  not 
to  excitement.  Wine  drinking  families  are 
not  divorced  every  evening.  Their  enjoy- 
ments are  in  close  communion  with  freedom, 
frankness  and  congeniality.  Home  is  better 
than  any  club  or  bar-room,  and  the  bachelors 
seek  such  homes  to  visit.  Pater  familias 
does  not  need  to  seek  the  bachelor  at  the 
club  or  the  saloon.  Moreover,  his  luxuries 
become  cheap  and  economical  in  this  way, 
and  he  becomes  hospitable.  The  bottle  of 
wine  makes  the  table  cheerful;  the  tired  and 
over-anxious  wife  is  not  troubled  about  what 
she  has  to  offer  her  guest.  Such  tables  offer 
no  apologies,  and  need  none. 

Wein,  weib,  gesang;  these  are  the  results. 
Wine  is  not  jealous,  nor  timid.  It  unites 
man  and  wife,  and  they  sing;  their  hearts 
sing  if  their  voices  cannot.  Without  wine, 
stimulus  comes  from  behind  doors  and 
screeens.  It  is  secretive  and  ashamed  of  it- 
self. Whisky,  and  even  beer,  to  a  great  ex- 


tent, divorce  the  family  relations,  destroy 
home  society,  become  ill-timed  and  unrea- 
sonable, and  lead  to  discord  and  complaint. 
A  man  leaves  an  ill  digested  and  poorly  en- 
joyed silent  dinner,  to  wander  in  seach  of 
some  relaxation.  He  ceases  then  to  control 
his  actions,  because  other  houses  and  places 
are  not  under  his  control.  He  ceases  to 
know  what  he  drinks,  and  is  imposed  upon. 
He  goes  home  relaxed,  perhaps  jolly;  he 
forgets  that  his  wife  has  not  had  the  same 
relaxation,  and  his  jolly  temper  is  turned 
acid  by  her  habitual  tired  expressions  and 
coolness.  Women  fight  the  saloons  partly 
from  fear,  partly  from  jealousy;  neither  hab- 
itual fear  nor  habitual  jealousy  are  promot- 
ers of  peace,  good  will  and  contentment.  The 
women  then  begin  to  think  of  rights  of  all 
kinds,  and  women's  rights  in  particular. 
Wine  at  the  table  would  make  it  all  right. 

When  we  talk  of  "wine  and  women,"  too 
many  think  only  of  champagne  and  hilarity. 
This  is  not  what  we  mean  by  wine  drinking. 
Champagne  is  an  exceptional  luxury;  but 
natural  wines,  such  as  sound  dry  Zinfandel, 
or  Riesling,  are  never  boisterous.  They  lead 
to  no  more  excesses  than  tea  or  coffee,  and 
are  rarely  as  dangerous  to  the  stomach.  The 
condition  of  the  stomach  and  liver  rules  the 
head.  Avoid  distilled  spirits,  regarding  them 
as  drugs,  useful  when  intelligently  pre- 
scribed; avoid  alcoholized  wines  and  heavy 
beers;  and  there  will  be  no  danger  of  intem- 
perance. Let  prohibitory  legislation  reform 
itself.  Seek  out  specific  dangers,  and  re- 
strain them,  as  the  sale  of  drugs  is  restricted. 
Punish  adulterations  and  adulterers,  and 
society  will  be  very  safe  and  happy.  The 
vine  has  been  called  "the  friend  of  man;"  it 
should  be  called  the  mutual  friend  of  man 
and  wife.  It  is  an  anti-divorce  prescription. 

There  has  never  yet  been  a  good  opportu- 
nity to  observe  the  effect  of  habitual  wine- 
drinking  upon  an  Anglo-Saxon  community. 
No  country  mainly  composed  of  Anglo-Sax- 
ons has  yet  been  a  wine  producer,  to  the  ex- 
tent of  providing  sufficient  to  supplant  spirits 
as  a  beverage.  We  are  to  test  the  question 
in  this  State,  and  perhaps  in  the  United 
States.  The  studenj;  of  temperaments,  how- 
ever, has  much  to  base  opinions  upon.  The 
Frenchman  and  the  Irishman,  when  judged 
on  equal  terms,  differ  mainly  in  their  hab- 
its, which  control  thought  and  sentiment. 
What  might  not  wine  have  done  for  Ireland? 
What  might  not  whisky  have  done  for 
France?  There  are  wine-drinking  English- 
men (not  the  port  and  sherry  drinkers), 
Irishmen,  Germans,  and  Americans.  Ob- 
serve, then,  their  family  life,  their  gentleness 
and  gentility,  their  affections,  and  their  unity. 
American  topers  go  to  France  and  come  back 


22 

cured— come  back  gentlemen.     Wine  makes  "Grog"  means  all  that  goes  with  and  sur- 

gentlemen,    as    grog    makes  brutes.      Wine  rounds  it— all  that  surrounds  its  consumer, 

makes  a  polite  tongue;  whisky  makes  a  foul-  The  vine  will  build  up  our  State  and  enrich 

mouthed   blackguard.     Wine   carries  with  it  and   comfort  our  people.      Wine   will  cure 

the    associations    with  which    it    is   served;  dyspepsia,  change  a  bilious  temper,  repair  a 

whisky  does   likewise.     Man  is  a  machine —  broken   hearth,  relieve   woman's  lonesome- 

unimpressible,  unteachable,    while   at  work  ness,  and  mend  our  manners, 

his  ideas  flow  and  he  receives  impressions  Moral:    plant  vines,   and  make  a  home; 

when   relaxed.     How   can  a  man  become  a  drink  wine,  and  become  a  gentleman, 

gentleman  who  gets  his  relaxation  in  grog?  CHARLES  A.  WETMOBE. 


Since  the  publication  of  the  first  edition  of 
this  pamphlet,  I  have  received  numerous  let- 
ters concerning  the  wild  vine  in  California 
(vitis  Calif ornica) .  I  take  pleasure  now  in 
publishing  them  as  an  addition  to  those  of 
Prof.  Hilgard  and  Mr.  Arpad  Hararzthy. 

Professor  HUSUIIUD  of  the  U diversity  of 
Missouri  wrote  me  as  follows: 

University  of  the  State  of  Missouri. 
Columbia,  MX,  March  29,  1880. 

CHAS.  A.  WETMOKE,  ESQ.  :  Dear  Sir—  I 
have  just  recived  a  copy  of  the  San  Francisco 
MEKCHANT  of  February  20th,  containing  your 
interesting  paper  and  illustration  of  seed- 
lings, we.,  of  Vitis  Calif  ornica. 

I  believe  with  you  that  such  a  course  as 
you  advise  will  ultimately  lead  to  two  results, 
viz  :  1st,  establishing  a  race  of  phylloxera- 
proof  vines  ;  2d,  obtaining  fruit  with  enough 
of  coloring  matter  and  tannin  to  make  good 
old  wines. 

I  know,,  from  correspondence  with  several 
of  your  leading  grape  growers,  that  the  latter 
is  a  desideratum  of  primary  importance.  I 
cannot  see,  however,  how  the  Vitis  Calif  or- 
nica, if  it  really  produces  such  superior  fruit, 
has  so  long  been  overlooked  and  ignored.  I 
would  have  thought  that  it  would  have  at- 
tracted attention  at  once,  even  before  the 
phylloxera  raid.  My  friend,  H.  W.  Crabb, 
of  Oakville,  has  long  been  experimenting 
with  varieties  of  our  vines  here,  which  I  had 
to  send  him,  for  the  purpose  of  finding  the 
true  red  wine  grape. 

I  am  very  sorrow  that  I  did  not  see  your 
communication  in  time  to  embody  an  extract 
from  it  in  my  book  now  in  press,  "  American 
Grape  Growing  and  Wine  Making,  "  which 
contains  already  several  communications 
from  California.  I  have  shipped  a  great 
many  phylloxera-proof  vines  and  cuttings  to 
France,  and  also  some  to  Messrs.  Dresel  and 
Gundlach  &  Co.  in  your  State.  I  am  deeply 
interested  in  this,  as  well  as  all  questions  re- 
lating to  grape  culture,  but  so  far,  knew 
hardly  of  existence  of  Vitis  Calif  ornica,  and 
did  not  suppose  it  produced  any  valuable 
fruit.  I  should  be  very  much  obliged  to  you 
for  a  small  package  of  seeds,  as  also,  if  yet  in 
time,  of  a  few  cuttiugs  of  some  desirable  va- 
rities  for  grafting,  to  be  tried  in  our  experi- 
mental vineyard  here.  If  you  desire  it  I  can 
reciprocate  with  some  cuttings  of  Newton 
Pearl,  Black  Taylor  and  Transparent,  which 
you  will  find  described  in  our  catalogue,  which 
I  send,  and  shall  be  glad  to  correspond  with 
you  at  any  time.  Hoping  to  hear  from  you 
soon,  I  remain  yours  truly,  GEO.  HUSMANN. 


A  package  of  seeds  was  sent  by  me  to  Prof 
Foex,  of  the  National  School  of  Agriculture 
at  Montpellier,  France,  at  which  institution 
are  growing  all  the  well  known  varieties  of 
American  vines.  The  Professor  kindly  re- 
sponded as  follows: 

Department  Agriculture  and  Commerce, 
National  School  Agriculture  of  Montpellier 
Viticultural  Station. 

MONTPELLIER,  Apiil  6,  1880. 

DEAR  SIR — Permit  me  to  thank  you  for 
your  kindness  in  sending  me  seeds  of  the 
Vitis  Calif  ornica.  I  am  infinitely  obliged  to 
you  for  having  remembered  my  request,  for  we 
(Prof.  Planchon  and  myself)  have  had  a  great 
desire  to  possess  this  variety,  which  has  not 
before  this  been  imported  into  Europe. 
Thanks  to  your  kindness,  we  are  going  to 
have  an  opportunity  to  study  it. 

The  tendency  toward  the  plantation  of 
American  vines  becomes  more  and  more  es- 
tablished with  us,  by  reason  of  the  failure  of 
insecticides  in  places  which  have  been  for  a 
long  time  attacked  by  phylloxera.  The  types 
which  we  prefer  are,  for  the  sake  of  their 
fruits,  the  Jacquez  (or  Ohio,  Cigar-box,  etc.), 
Herbemont  (or  Warren),  and  the  Black  «[uly 
(or  Devereux  Lenoir).  For  grafting  stock  we 
prefer  the  wild  Vitis  Riparia,  which  is  sent  to 
us  from  Missouri,  Iowa  and  Kansas,  and  the 
Vitis  Rupestris,  from  Texa*. 

I  take  the  liberty  in  addressing  to  you  by 
this  same  mail  a  little  pamphlet  containing  a 
resume  of  practical  lessons  in  grafting  Amer- 
ican vines,  which  I  gave  a  month  ago  at  the 
College  of  Agriculture. 

Accept,  dear  sir,  my  kindest  regards,  etc., 

G.  FOEX. 

CHAS  A.  Wetmore,  3an  Francisco,  Cal. 

The  publication  of  a  notice  in  the  SAN 
FRANCISCO  MERCHANT  offering  to  distribute 
gratis  packages  of  the  seed  brought  to  the  ed- 
itor of  that  paper  and  to  myself  a  great  num- 
ber of  applications.  The  entire  collection 
which  I  had  made — amounting  to  three  hun- 
dred and  twenty  five  pounds  of  seeds,  have 
been  distributed  in  parcels  from  a  half  pound 
in  weight  upwards.  Accidentally,  a  complete 
list  of  the  names  to  whom  these  were  sent 
was  lost,  but  the  following  names  are  remem- 
bered; Professor  E.  W.  Hilgard,  California 
State  University;  John  L.  Beard,  Centerville, 
Alameda  Co;  Chas.  Kohler,  Sonora;  Gund- 
lach  &  Co,  Sonoma;  Chas.  Krug,  St.  Helena, 
Napa  County;  Hon.  S.  C.  Hastings,  Kuther- 
ford,  Napa  County;  C.  T.  Hopkins,  for  Los 
Angeles  County;  Jas.  H.  Drummond,  Glen 


24 


Ellen,  Sonoma  Connty;  Oliver  Halden, 
Fresno;  J.  A.  Drinkhouse,  Sacramento;  H. 
E.  Hitchcock,  Oakland;  M.  Keller,  Los  An- 
geles; Mrs.  W.  B.  Bourne,  St.  Helena;  Miss 
Lulu  Littleton,  Alameda;  E.  H.  Bifford,  San 
Francisco;  Howe  &  Hall,  San  Francisco;  Mr. 
Hillon,  Sec'y,  Natoma  W.  M.  Co.,  Folsom; 
J.  B.  Whitney,  San  Jose;  J.  B.  Pierce,  Santa 
Clara;  Wellman,  Peck  &  Co,  San  Francisco; 
Dr.  F.  Wrightson,  Napa;  Hon.  H.  M.  Street- 
er,  Biverside;  E.  Brierly,  Biverside;  Fred.  I. 
Huse,  San  Diego;  Miss  Hannah  Millard, 
Lake  County. 

Packages  have  been  sent  out  of  this  State 
to  the  following:  Professor  Husmann,  Univer- 
sity of  Missouri;  Leonard  Casper,  Saratoga 
Sprints,  New  York;  Hawaiian  Commercial 
Co,  Honolulu;  Professor  Foex,  National 
School  of  Agriculture,  Montpellier,  France; 
A.  H.  Trimoulet,  Vice  President  Viticultural 
Union  of  the  Entre-deux-Mers,  Bordeaux; 
to  Italy  by  the  Italian  Consul;  to  Spain  by 
Mess.  Hellman  Bros  &  Co. 

I  have  recently  received  letters  from  Win. 
C.  Mattier,  of  Harbins  Springs,  Lake  County, 
who  is  pursuing  his  studies  of  this  vine  with 
great  zeal  and  care.  This  year  hip  seedlings 
will  be  two  years  old.  He  'finds  differences 
in  bark,  roots  and  leaves  among  the  wild 
vines,  as  well  as  in  the  wine.  I  have  receiv- 
ed from  him  samples  of  wine  he  made  for 
me  last  year — which  will  soon  be  examined 
by  experts  It  is  now  old  enough  to  study. 

At  my  suggestion  he  has  waived  his  right 
to  name  these  seedlings  and  has  adopted  the 
name  I  mentioned  to  him,  which  is  Matilda 
seedling  or  as  he  uses  it  in  his  native  lan- 
guage la  Matilde.  For  convenience  in  refer- 
ing  to  these  seedlings,  which  will  differ  in 
some  respects  no  doubt  from  seedlings  of 
other  wild  vines  of  this  State,  I  respectfully 
request  that  this  name  may  be  generally 
adopted  by  those  who  have  used  the  seeds, 
which  I  have  distributed.  I  feel  assured 
that  this  promising  plant  will  honor  the 
memory  of  my  mother  in  generations  to 
come,  after  she  whose  beloved  name  it  bears 
shall  have  left  this  world  in  which  she  has 
been  a  true  vine — fruitful  in  all  that  is  good 
and  strong  in  her  womanly  power  of  love 
and  kindness. 

PKOGREtS   OF   THE    MATILDA    SEEDLINGS. 

The  seeds,  which  have  been  distributed 
have  been  germinated  in  many  parts  of  the 
State,  with  varying  results.  At  Oakland,  I 
have  experimented  with  them  for  *  he  purpose 
of  ascertaining  their  germinating  power. 
About  one  half  of  the  seeds,  I  found  to  be 
dead,  killed  mostly  by  a  small  worm.  These 
dead  seeds  were  easily  separated  by  floating 
them  off  in  water.  Counting  samples  of  the 
sound  seeds,  I  found  that  they  averaged 
about  four  thousand  to  the  pound.  Among 
the  wild  grapes  were  many  which  were  at- 
tacked by  insects  common  to  the  places  where 
they  grew  which  are  generally  in  creek  bottoms 
among  dense  foliage  of  oaks  and  and  other 


trees.  These  insects  probably  produced  the 
worms,  which  vere  found  in  one  half  the 
seeds.  By  carefully  sowing  small  numbers 
of  the  sound  seeds  in  boxes  and  pots,  I  found 
at  Oakland,  even  during  the  past  unfavorable 
spring,  that  about  ninrty  per  cent,  germina- 
ted successfully.  It  is  evident  from  what  I 
have  seen  that  between  three  and  four  thous- 
and plants  can  be  obtained  from  a  pound  of 
seed. 

My  observations,  and  also  those  of  Mr. 
Mattier  at  Harbin's  Springs,  prove  that  the 
Vitis  Californica  is  very  late  in  bursting  its 
buds,  or  germinating  from  the  seed.  Al- 
though I  sowed  seeds  early  in  March,  and 
others  in  April,  none  germinated  before  the 
1st  of  May,  and  from  that  tirna  until  the  first 
week  in  June  they  came  up  rapidly.  It 
seems,  probably,  that  experience  will  prove 
that  the  proper  time  to  sow  them  is  in  April. 

Most  of  my  seeds  were  first  soaked  twenty- 
four  hours,  and  this  probably  would  be  best 
usually  for  field  sowing;  but  I  have  observed 
no  especial  advantage  when  the  Spring  rains 
were  late.  Shallow  sowing  is  better  than 
otherwise.  They  have  succeeded  very  well 
with  me  when  lightly  covered  with  sandy 
loam.  Manured  soils  breed  insects,  which 
trouble  the  young  plants. 

Mr.  C.  Mattier  phmted  seeds  in  April.  One 
of  his  seedlings,  six  months  and  a  half  from 
the  seed,  is  the  same  that  was  illustrated  by 
the  MEKCHANT— a  little  less  than  one-half  the 
natural  size.  This  year  he  writes  me  that 
his  seedlings — one  year  old — were  very  late 
in  coming  into  leaf,  but  they  have  already 
grown  amazingly  in  the  short  time  since  the 
buds  have  burst.  On  the  4th  of  June  some 
of  them  had  new  cones  five  feet  long. 
The  most  remarkable  feature  of  this 
culture  of  the  wild  vine  is  the 
vigor  of  the  young  growth.  The  leaves 
of  the  wild  vines  in  their  wild  state  are  gen- 
erally small;  but  these  seedlings  have,  on 
their  second  year,  leaves  that  measure  four 
inches  across  bj  six  inches  in  length.  It  is 
safe  to  presume  that  the  fruit  will  corre- 
spondingly increase  in  size.  The  ateness  of 
their  growth  will  enable  them  to  escape 
spring  frosts. 

Mr.  Mattier  is  constantly  pursuing  these 
investigations.  He  finds  by  an  examination 
of  roots  and  wood  that  his  opinion  that  there 
are  distinct  varieties  of  the  wild  vine  is  sup- 
ported by  other  proofs.  Boots,  barks,  color, 
etc.,  vary. 

The  samples  of  wine,  which  he  made  for 
me,  and  which  were  tasted  by  Mr.  Haraszthy 
and  referred  to  in  his  letter  heretofore  pub- 
lished, are  now  older,  and  will  soon  be  care- 
fully examined  and  analyzed.  When  that  is 
done  a  further  report  will  be  made  public. 

Enough,  however,  has  been  learned  already 
to  demonstrate  that  these  seedlings  are  en- 
dowed with  superior  vitality  and  vigor;  that 
they  grow  rapidly  in  the  open  field;  and  that 
they  take  the  graft  easily.  The  bark  is  tough 


25 


and  probably  as  useful,  if  not  more  so,  as  the 
other  American  wild  stocks  for  defense 
against  the  phylloxera. 

ADDENDA. 

Since  the  above  was  put  in  type  : 

I  have  had  an  opportunity  to  obtain  scienti- 
fic examination  of  the  samples  of  wine  of  the 
wild  grape  which  were  fermented  last  Fall  by 
Mr.  C.  Mattier  at  Harbins  Springs. 

Unfortunately  Mr.  Mattier  had  no  facilities 
to  ferment  more  than  very  small  quantities, 
and  in  keeping  them  he  was  obliged  to  mix 
the  best  claret-like  sample  with  the  brownish 
wine. 

Professor  Federico  Pohndorff,  of  this  city, 
and  Monsieur  A.  de  Lacretelle,  of  the  French 
Society  of  Agriculturists,  examined  the  wine 
together.  Subsequently  it  was  also  examined 
by  Dr.  John  I.  Bleasdale,  Secretary  of  the 
Board  of  State  Viticultural  Commissioners. 

Prof.  Pohndorff  and  Monsieur  de  Lacre- 
telle agreed  that  it  was  important  to  experi- 
ment with  the  seedlings  of  this  vine,  for  the 
purpose  of  ascertaining  its  value  for  grafting 
stock. 

Prof.  Pohndorff  was  decidedly  of  the  opin- 
ion that  the  wine  of  the  wild  vine  would  be 
ound  to  be  a   useful   addition   to   our   wine 
product.     He  has  given  me  the  following  re- 
port: 

"Samples  of  red  wine  made  from  the  wild 
grape  (vitis  Calif  arnica) . 

"Oolor — brownish  hue,  lively  and  tinting 
power;  not  a  correct  color  for  a  red  wine. 
The  mode  of  making  the  wine  not  having 
been  stated,  it  is  difficult  to  guess  the  reason 
of  the  brownish  color,  but  the  sample  grapes 
seen  will  allow  me  to  infer  that  green,  unripe 
grapes  joined  to  the  mature  ones  in  the  press 
have  caused  it  in  part;  the  coloring  matter  in 
the  ripe  grapes  may  in  the  sylvan  state  of  the 
grape  be  of  a  composition  which  has  not  the 
effect  of  communicating  a  more  perfect  tinge 
of  wine-red  to  the  juice.  A  surplus  tannin  in 
the  seeds  may  likewise  have  affected  the  color, 
turning  it.  The  soil  it  grew  in  finally  may 
have  influenced  it. 

"Taste — Of  a  dry  wine,  well  fermented 
astringent,  of  a  fruity  nondescript  but  vinous, 
liquid,  very  acid,  but  certainly  not  in  any 
way  acetic,  hence  sound;  nearest  fruit  analogy 
in  taste  to  currants. 

"Aroma — Vinous,  resembling  the  flavor  of 
raspberries,  being  for  the  comparative  want  of 
character  as  a  wine  in  its  taste,  rather  pro- 
nounced alcoholic.  Strength  test  of  one  tested 
example,  10.9  per  cent. 

"Acids — Free  acids  of  one  of  the  samples 
9.7  per  thousand.  Fruit  acids  predominant. 
Tannin  still  united  considerably. 

"Is  it  probable  that  by  cultivating  the  vine 
these  wines  were  made  of,  a  more  perfect 
wine  would  result?  Certainly. 
^  "Will  the  improved  wine  be  of  the  nature  of 
light  wines?  No;  the  amount  of  alcohol 
would  show  a  proportion  of  about  22  per 
cent  of  saccharine;  the  acids  are  considerable. 


Thus  the  result  of  cultivation  would  probably 
be  a  wine  of  similar  parts  as  the  ordinary 
grape  vines  of  the  state  contain,  and  the  wine 
be  then  one  between  cold  and  hot  wines.  The 
flavor  of  a  fruit  like  raspberry,  with  proper 
proportioning  of  acids,  would  indicate  a  form 
which  might  come  near  to  that  of  an  ordinary 
Bordeaux;  but  a  good  deal  of  cultivation 
would  be  required  for  this  object. 

"Would  it  be  right  to  advise  the  propagation 
and  cultivation  of  the  wild  grape?  Undoubt- 
edly it  Would  be,  for  the  reason  that  a  sound 
wine,  however  ordinary,  can  be  made  from 
it — that  from  the  standpoint  of  protecting 
nobler  vines  from  the  inroads  of  the  phyllox- 
era, it  is  useful,  hence  advisable — that  no 
harm  but  only  good  can  result  from  planting 
even  larger  tracts  of  land  with  it,  as  there  is 
value  rendered,  for  the  wine,  if  by  itself  de- 
fective, can  be  employed  anyhow,  either  for 
blending  or  by  being  blended  into  a  well- 
tasting  wine — that  it  will  present  an  object 
for  practically  studying  how  ito  make  in  the 
press  a  good  wine,  rightly  proportioned  of 
it — that  even  if  no  wine  of  any  quality  will 
be  rendered  by  the  grape,  it  yields  its  rich 
content  of  alcohol,  which  for  distilling  it  in- 
to Brandy  or  Spirit,  will  always  pay  the  in- 
vestment in  wild  vines  in  a  plantation — and 
lastly  that  the  brandy  distilled  from  it, having, 
as  shown  by  a  test  distillate,  both  the  taste 
and  flavor  of  fruit  of  grape,  will  form  prob- 
ably a  good  type  of  brandy. 

F.  POHNDOKFF. 

San  Francisco,  June  18,  1880. 
p.  s. — 

"The  alcoholic  strength  surprised  me;  such 
an  amount  of  sugar  the  wild  grape  has,  would 
indicate  that  by  ennobling  it  through  cultiva- 
tion it  might  be  brought  to  a  level  with  the 
sweetest  grapes  in  the  state. 

"Mr.  de  Lacretelle  supposed  phenic  acid  to 
overrule  the  acids  of  one  of  the  examples. 
An  analysis  of  that  part  of  the  composition 
of  the  acids  of  the  wine,  which  can  be  found 
by  reagents,  will  show  if  this  supposition 
is  right.  My  test  of  the  free  acids  with  caus- 
tic alkali  was  a  hasty  superficial  one.  The 
wine  is  certainly  susceptible  of  being  rightly 
trained  and  after  a  few  years  of  cultivation 
showing  us  a  distinct  form,  perfected  and 
valuable.  Soil  and  situation  of  the  vineyard 
will  influence  this  greatly. 

June  19th.  F.  POHNDOBFF. 

"Dr.  Bleasdale  has  completed  a  partial  anal- 
ysis of  one  sample  with  the  following  result: 

"Vitis  Calif ornica;  produced  at  Harbins 
Springs,  Lake  county,  Cal.;  specific  gravity 
of  wine,  1.0840;  temperature,  60°  F.;  specific 
grayity  of  distillate,  .98495;  percentage  of  B 
proof  spirit,  20.003;  alcohol,  11.428;  tannin, 
per  cent,  0;812;  extractive  matters,  0.2134. 

"N.  B. — Tannic  acid  was  determined  ac- 
cording to  Wittstein's  formula.  J.  J.  B." 

CHAS.  A.  WETMOEE. 
Ill  Leidesdorff  street,  San  Francisco,  June  9, 

1880. 


TO  VINICULTURISTS. 


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Adjoining  London  and  S.  F.  Brink,         San  Francisco,  CaL  \ 


Choice  Vineyard  Lands  selected, bought,  sold  and  exchanged 

Vintages  sold  on  commission.     Choicest  selections 

made  for  private  cellars.    Experts  employed. 

Cuttings  and  Rooted  Vines,  Seedlings 

and  Seeds  for  sale.     Vineyards-  »' 

planted  for  new  beginners. 

Special  attention  given  to  legal  practice  in  connection  with 
settlement  of  land  titles,  and  to  the  business  of  viticul- 
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RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 


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270ct'5?GB 


LD  21-100m-2,'55 
(B139s22)476 


General  Library 

University  of  California 

Berkeley 


